Moving Forward
by UnknownTitans
Summary: Sequel to "Does It Have To Be Goodbye?" - Richard and Starfire adjust to their new life in Gotham City.
1. Chapter 1: Richard

**_Previously_**

 _As the two climbed aboard and found their seats, Alfred gave a small chuckle "Master Bruce will be very 'interested' by this new turn of events". He gave a fleeting look over to the couple seating near the back of the jet, immensely proud that at least one of his family had managed to find a lady to settle down with. He gave another soft chuckle and a smile at the couple before closing up the hatch door and taking his seat._

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Richard**

As the 5 and a half hour plane ride reached its half-way point Starfire was pulled from her deep thoughts to hear a voice speaking to her. She whirled her head around in confusion to find the smiling face of Alfred "what?" she asked slightly dazed.

Alfred gave her another warm smile, "Miss Starfire, I was asking you whether you would like a drink of something? We have been flying for a while now and neither you nor Master Dick has had anything to drink. We have a range of beverages available." He asked politely

"Oh I am sorry for my rudeness, may I please have some water?" she asked with a wobbly smile

"Of course Miss" Alfred said reaching for the pitcher of iced water. As he gave notice to the worried face of the young lady "Miss, if I am not too rude to ask. Are you alright? You look as if something Is troubling you" he asked kindly

"Yes, I am as you say 'feeling the butterflies'. I have lived in Jump City for the entirety of my stay on Earth and I am nervous about moving to a new city."

"Are you not happy to be going alongside Master Dick though?" he asked. He already knew the answer but he often liked to play the therapist and understood that if she was reminded of her being with Robin then it would alleviate some of her worry.

"Oh yes I am most happy to be coming with Robin, but I am still feeling the nervousness" she said with a small smile

"Very understandable Miss" he said patting her on the shoulder "I do not hope you mind my prodding but you stated that you do not originate from Earth. May I ask where your home lies?" he asked carefully

"I am from the planet of Tamaran, the planet itself is very different to that of Earth but the people are very similar." She paused "However Earthlings do not posess the natural ability of flight from the emotion of happiness." She said with a small giggle.

"Ah yes. That is a very different trait your people have." He paused resting his hand on her shoulder. "It is always scary moving to a new place Miss but it is part of nature that we move forward and explore new places even if that means leaving other places behind." He paused again giving her a warm smile "maybe one day you and Mater Dick will return back to Jump City. But for the meantime please try to enjoy your stay in Gotham". He passed Starfire her drink and made his way back towards the front of the plane.

* * *

Robin returned from the bathroom and noticing Alfred passing a drink to Starfire and then heading towards the front of the plane. He too had been feeling very nervous on the flight but for a different reason, he headed towards Alfred and greeted the butler with a small smile "Hi Alfred"

"Greetings Master Dick" the butler said warmly, "are you enjoying your flight? We are not too far from Gotham airfield now and we should be ready to land soon"

"Yeah. Listen Alfred can I talk to you about something?" he asked, quickly awaiting the response.

"Of course Master Dick, what would you like to discuss?" Alfred asked politely

Robin, turned his head and looked around to check where Starfire was. He noticed that she was asleep in her seat and he gave a sigh of relief before continuing "I want to talk about Starfire"

"Ah yes, the young Miss is very charming, I can see why you fell for her" he said smiling warmly at Robin. "when did she decide that she would be joining you?"

"It was kind of a last minute decision" he said rubbing the back of his neck "it took me up until a few hours ago to admit the feelings I've had for her for years."

"Matters of the heart are often hard to explain in words" he placed his hand on Robin's shoulder and gave him a comforting smile

"See, that's the thing. I've never been good at expressing my feelings and I'm worried that it's gonna cause problems between me and her. Tamaranian's thrive on emotions, especially her, and I'm terrified that what I can give her won't be enough. Like, what if I never end up asking her to marry me or some big event and she leaves me to be with someone who can!" he said frantically.

Alfred placed both his hands on the boy's shoulders "Master Dick, please you must calm yourself. You have only been together with the girl for a few hours and you are already worried about marriage proposals." Everybody feels nervous and confused at the start of a new relationship and I am sure that Miss Starfire is also having a similar amount of worry, so you need not fret." He paused switching to a more soothing tone "The start of a relationship is something that is supposed to be exciting and fun. Not spent worrying about when it will end. So please Master Dick, do not fear the future and instead look forward to it. I'm sure Miss Starfire is looking forward to one with you in it".

Alfred's words helped him immensely and steadied his plummeting confidence. Of course Alfred was right, the old butler had some years built up and probably plenty of experience with relationships so Robin realised that it would be good to take heed of what the old man said. With renewed confidence he headed over to the sleeping form of Starfire, slipping into the seat next to her.

He gently took her hand in his and raised it up before kissing it softly. He smiled as Starfire's eyes began to open sleepily and she smiled warmly in return at the sight. "We're almost at the airfield Star so we will be landing soon" he said softly

"Very well Robin" she replied with a smile. Upon hearing herself say the name she quickly came up with a question she had been pondering herself. "Robin" she paused "If you are to be training a new boy to be Robin then shouldn't you also change your name?"

Robin thought over this for a minute, "Yeah you're right Star I hadn't really gave it much thought" he paused "You told me that in the future I called myself 'Nightwing' right?" he asked awaiting her response

"Yes, 'Nightwing'…" she said pondering "you wore a blue and black uniform" she paused giggling at next detail "your hair was also different, it was very long". She paused in thought, "are you saying you would wish to do the becoming of 'Nightwing'?"

"Yeah, maybe one day" he said thoughtfully, before adding "But for the meantime you can call me Richard if you like?"

Starfire's eyes lit up with wonder "I would be allowed to call you by your first name?"

Robin chuckled "of course you can Star, you are my girlfriend after all"

Starfire blushed at the thought of the term that could now be applied to her, a question came to her mind "Then Richard, why does Alfred call you Dick instead of your name?" she asked with a slightly confused look.

Robin gave a small chuckle "Dick is a shortened version of Richard. My mother was the only person that I let call me Richard" he paused a sad smile appearing on his face "After she died I didn't let anyone call me that and I made them all call me Dick. Alfred was very stubborn at first but eventually I explained why and he agreed to call me Dick instead." He gave a long pause looking up to Starfire's face "But you remind me so much of my mother, you have the same friendly and loving nature and so after that night with my hallucinations of Slade, I decided that I wanted you to be able to call me Richard." He smiled holding her hand gently.

Starfire was in awe by how special the privilege of calling him by his first name actually was. Before she just presumed that he preferred being called Robin but to learn the true reason and to actually be able to call him that made her extremely happy. "Then yes Richard, I would very much like to call you by your first name" she smiled at him brightly

"Would you want me to call you Koriand'r as well? I can if you would prefer me to" he asked hopeful that the answer would be a 'no'

"No Richard, I very much enjoy the way you call me 'Star'" she said with a dazzling smile

"Okay well it looks like, from now on, it's gonna be Star and Richard against the world" he chuckled looping his arm around her back.

Starfire did not like the odds they would have against battling an entire planet but soon realised it was just a saying and she offered a giggle in response.

 **End of chapter 1**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

Thanks for reading chapter 1. This is quite a long one as it was the combination of 2 chapters, the others may be of similar length but I think I am going to cut down on the length of chapters so they have a good ending point.

I have chosen to write Alfred as the caring surrogate grandfather type of figure that is seen in some of the animated series and films. Despite him being very polite and proper, I still see him as being very caring and helpful towards the people he would see as his family (Bruce and Dick) and so I also think that this friendliness and caring would extend to how he treats Starfire as well.

Not 100% sure how many chapters there will be for this story but I think there will be quite a few. Probably around 10 but I will have a better idea as I get more into the story.

 **Next Chapter:** Arrival in Gotham and meeting Bruce


	2. Chapter 2: The Arrival

**Author's Note:**

From this point onwards Robin will be referred to either as Dick or Richard. I could have made the switch at the end of the last chapter I thought it would be confusing. Sorry if it seems strange.

Also I think I will posting 2 chapters of this story at a time. I write them in bulk and so it seems silly to only post 1 at a time.

* * *

 ** _Last Chapter_**

 _"_ _Okay well it looks like, from now on, it's gonna be Star and Richard against the world" he chuckled looping his arm around her back._

 _Starfire did not like the odds they would have against battling an entire planet but soon realised it was just a saying and she offered a giggle in response._

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Arrival**

Starfire's conversation with Alfred had really helped her feel better about moving to a new place. She was feeling a lot better and the previous level of fear and worry was being replaced by excitement for what her new home would be like.

Robi-Richard was sitting beside her in his seat with one arm loosely around her shoulder and the other gently stroking her held hand with this thumb. She had never realised how happy being in a relationship would feel until now and it was better than she had ever could have hoped for. She knew that she would be willing to move to anywhere as long as Richard would be there with her.

She would need to work on calling him Richard now considering she had been referring to him as Robin for years, but the change of name was pleasant for her and she liked being able to call him Richard now.

He turned his face away from the window he was looking out of, to speak to her "We should be landing soon Star" he said with a warm smile.

* * *

When they arrived it was very late at night and within seconds of leaving the plane they were already being hurriedly ushered into a limousine that was parked no more than 20 feet away from the entryway of the jet. Alfred hurriedly shut the door behind the couple as they say in the lounge area of the limo whilst he sat in the passenger seat.

The limo was very odd to Starfire, she had heard of them but never seen one before and she found it hard to understand the point of having a vehicle this long when there were only 2 passengers sitting in the back. Richard was very nonchalant about using a limousine and Starfire marked it down to the fact that he had probably rode in one lots of times before. After a few moments Starfire turned to Richard "Richard, why are we taking the limousine that is stretched, if there are only 4 people in the vehicle?" she asked confused

"Bruce has this whole policy that every single thing in life has to be to the finest and most extravagant quality. So much so that he still takes a limo even if it is just him and the driver" he said with a sigh

"That seems very wasteful, does it not?"

"Yeah but that is what Bruce is about, he thinks that because he has so much money that he might as well spend as much of it as he can. I don't care for the extravagance that he lives with but we might have to put up with it whilst we are here."

"That is fine Richard, I'm sure that some of the extravagance will be most enjoyable" she said with a smile

* * *

Most of the ride had been spent in a comfortable silence with Starfire gazing in awe out of the window of the limo as they drove through Gotham City. She had never seen it before and she did not see how such a fine looking and wealthy city could be so full of crime. Disregarding the shadier parts of the city her eyes focused on the giant skyscrapers that littered the city and the spotlights shining up high into the sky around them.

Richard looked over at the awestruck face of Starfire as she peered out at the sights around them and gave a bright smile at how adorable he thought she was. He would have explained the sights to her but the city had become so normal and mundane to him that he really didn't think he could point out things of interest. He remembered something important that Starfire needed to know and hoped that it wouldn't upset her too much. "Hey Star?" he asked hopefully

Starfire turned her smiling face around to meet his "Yes dearest Richard?"

That term of endearment made him wish he didn't have to tell her "Star, you see. It would look very suspicious if Robin and Starfire arrive at Gotham City the same time Dick Grayson and his girlfriend arrive…"

"Yes, and your point is Richard?" she asked quizzically

"Well while you are here, sometimes you might have to wear this" he said reaching into his pocket and fishing out a small metal ring before handing it to Starfire.

She held the ring up between her forefinger and thumb whilst she inspected it "What is it?"

"It's a hologram ring Star. You know, like the one Cyborg wore when he infiltrated the hive. Well Cyborg had a ring made for all of us in case we would ever need them and he taught me how to change the holograms" Starfire gave a nod of recognition "So it isn't suspicious, you may have to wear a hologram ring." He paused before carefully adding "Not in a bad way Star, but you are very noticeable and so you would probably be easily recognised here. The idea is that when we are out in public the ring would disguise your skin tone so you don't stand out too much."

Starfire gave him a hurt look as if he had just told her she was hideous.

He spoke hurriedly trying to stop her from being upset with him "It will only be when we are attending any kind of ceremony or party or anything formal and you don't need to wear it at all around the manor." He paused analysing the look on her pouting face

"Please don't be upset with me Star, if it was up to me then you would never need to wear one but Bruce keeps his secrets very secure and airtight so no one can find out. Plus do you want the news to start posting about how Starfire has been seen dating 2 different men at the same time?" he said with a small smirk

Starfire gave him a horrified look "Of course not Richard! I would not want them to get that impression of me at all!" she paused "Also, I am not the upset with you Richard. I understand that it must be done."

"You are always so good at understanding Star" he said giving a kiss on the cheek before continuing "However your name is something you will need to decide on" he said thoughtfully

"My name?" she asked with an edge of concern and worry

"The name you will be using while you are using the hologram. It would be awkward if your hologram was also called Starfire." He paused "I was thinking maybe 'Kori Anders' then it is still using your name but it is very human sounding"

Starfire pondered for a moment before deciding that she hadn't been able to come up with anything better "Very well then at the formal events I shall be 'Kori Anders'"

Richard gave her a warm smile "Thanks Star" pausing to look out of the window as they pulled through the gates and towards Wayne Manor "We're here" he said turning back to Starfire and smiling at her.

As they headed up the driveway to the door of the manor, the fear and anxiety Starfire had been feeling had now returned to her. She took Richard's hand in hers and squeezed it tightly hoping to find some comfort in it.

Richard turned to her "I know you're nervous Star but don't worry. Bruce might be a bit weird around you at first, he doesn't really have much trust for people from other worlds. It took him years to finally accept help from Superman" he said with a slight grin but it disappeared as he looked at the terrified face of Starfire "But Star if he says anything to you that upsets me then tell me. We are here to do him a favour and so the least he can do is be welcoming"

Alfred walked past the two and up to the front door, "Master Bruce's reaction to Miss Starfire will be quite interesting I imagine"

Robin looked at the butler nervously "You didn't tell him Star was coming as well?"

"No I thought it would be quite amusing to witness his reaction. But you are right Master Dick, you are going him a favour and so it would be rude of him to be any less than welcoming to the young Miss" he said kindly.

Alfred opened the doors to the manor leading the couple inside, Bruce Wayne stepped forward to greet his former sidekick "Dick" he said simply

"Bruce" he offered back in return

 **End of chapter 2**

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Meeting Bruce


	3. Chapter 3: Meet The Family

_**Last Chapter**_

 _Alfred opened the doors to the manor leading the couple inside, Bruce Wayne stepped forward to greet his former sidekick "Dick" he said simply_

 _"Bruce" he offered back in return_

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Meet the Family**

There was a long silence as the 2 stared at each other, both expecting the other to speak first. Alfred took a moment to watch this exchange in amusement but then decided that he would start the conversation "Master Bruce, I apologise for our lateness but Master Dick said that there was a 'last minute change of plans'.

Richard snapped out of his somewhat glare at Bruce "Yeah Bruce I've brought someone with me", causing Bruce to raise an eyebrow.

Richard took Starfire's hand and led her around to his side where she was now visible through the doorway "Bruce this is Starfire"

Starfire was extremely nervous at meeting such an important figure and the adoptive father of Richard "Hello, Mr Bruce Wayne sir" she said nervously making sure she spoke every word correctly before bowing like she had to Alfred.

Bruce laid a small grin on his face, but kept his eyebrow raised questioningly "You brought one of your team with you?"

Richard presumed that Bruce understood what was going on but was wanting him to actually say it. "No Bruce, Star isn't just my one of my team" he paused looping an arm protectively around Starfire's waist "she is my girlfriend and she will be staying with me whilst I am here" he said firmly, making sure that Bruce understood it was a statement and not a question.

"I see" Bruce said with a sound of slight agitation before turning his attention over to Starfire. "Starfire may you give me and Dick a moment please?" he said with false kindness

"Of course sir" she said, worrying that she was the topic he wanted to talk to Richard about.

As the 2 men walked off into another room, Alfred lifted one of Starfire's bags for her "Miss, if you would be so kind to follow me, I will escort you to where your bedroom will be" he said lifting another of her bags and smiling kindly at her.

"Yes, please lead onwards" she said giving Alfred a warm smile

* * *

Bruce led Richard into a small lounge type room, closing the door behind them and turning to Dick. "Why did you bring her here with you?" he said with a look of annoyance.

Richard wasn't going to let Bruce treat her like dirt just because of his xenophobia. "'Her' has a name Bruce" he said agitated. "I brought her here because she is my girlfriend and I wanted her to come with me.

"How many times have I told you to never date team mates Dick?" he said with a slight scowl.

"Oh yeah because you definitely have followed that rule haven't you?" he said rolling his eyes "Let's see Diana, Selina….." he said counting each name on his hand

"Fine" Bruce said exasperated. "But you are the leader of a team and she is a member of that team. It would be cause issues if the two of you were focused more on each other than the rest of the team"

"Bruce, are you forgetting the fact that the Titans split up weeks ago. We all grew up and went on to do different things. Star and I have come to help this new kid and to do you a favour, I thought that you would at least be welcoming to her considering we are here to help….." he said with a frown.

Bruce sighed "Fine. You're right Dick; I should be more welcoming to her."

"Yeah, you should." Dick said triumphantly, it was rare he could win an argument with Bruce and he was glad to finally have changed his mind. "Well if you're done lecturing me then I will be heading to my room to get some rest. It's been a long trip and It's late so I'll be heading to bed."

"Welcome home Dick", Bruce said with a grin

"Night Bruce" Richard said simply heading out and towards the line of bedrooms.

* * *

"Here is your room Miss Starfire" he said stopping at the door to the bedroom. "I have taken the liberty to put you in the bedroom room next to Master Dick's"

"Thank you Alfred" Starfire replied with a bright smile "But where are my other belongings?"

"They have been already been stored in your room for you miss" he said proudly

Utterly confused by how a feat was possible so quickly "But I did not see-" she paused before continuing "Thank you for your assistance Alfred"

"It was my pleasure, Good night Miss Starfire" he said with a bow and a smile

"Pleasant shlorvax, Alfred" she replied with a bright smile before stepping into her room and shutting the door.

Alfred simply smiled to himself not wanting to ask her to explain.

* * *

It was about 2am when Richard heard a soft knock at his door, he didn't even have to question who it was.

"Richard?" she knocked again "are you still awake?" her voice was very faint and quiet as if not to wake some other imaginary guests in the huge empty mansion.

He quickly climbed out of bed and opened the door to his room. Starfire was stood in front of him in her usual bright pink silk pyjamas, her face was similar to that of a small child who had just had a nightmare and he didn't see how an 18 year old could look so timid and nervous. "What's wrong Star?" he said as softly as he could.

"I have not been successful in achieving sleep, I believe that it is because of being in a new home. I did not want to wake you but would it be acceptable to stay with you, I am a big now and I should be able to go to sleep by myself but I find it difficult to adjust to a new home"

Richard gave her a sympathetic smile "Sure Star" stepping aside so she could scurry in out of the hallway. He led her over to the bed and made space for her to lie beside him. "When we first moved into the tower I found it hard to sleep. For the first couple of nights I barely got any sleep at all, it just felt so different being away from the manor." He paused looking up at the roof of his bedroom "It feels even weirder being back here after all these years"

Climbing into the spot beside him Starfire slyly snuggled up as close as possible to him "are you not happy to see your father again after all this time?"

"He's not really my father Star" he replied

"Richard" she said resting her head on his collarbone "family does not have to be of blood" she paused smiling, "the Titans are proof of this"

"Yeah." He sighed "I guess you're right Star." He titled his head so that it rested against hers.

There was a comfortable silence as the 2 laid together before Starfire spoke out against the silence. "I am sorry for waking you Richard" she said with a remorseful tone.

He gave her a soft comforting chuckle "Don't be. It is much nicer with you here."

She smiled brightly back at him before it melted off of her face and then her cheeks turned a bright crimson "I-I did not mean to imply anything by asking to share your bed with you Richard" she said with a very nervous and embarrassed tone, realising how inappropriate her request must have sounded.

Richard gave her another chuckle "And I didn't infer anything from It Star, I know you don't like to be on your own. Plus we've been together for less than 24 hours now so I wouldn't have expected anything in the first place" he said reassuringly.

Starfire was immensely happy that he understood her so well but the act, from her research would still be seen as inappropriate, "But Richard does our short time together not make the act of sharing a bed still inappropriate"

Richard found her worrying and concern for their relationship very endearing but he knew that she just wanted to know that it was okay "It would be if we had only just met. I have known you for a long time and I have been in love with you for the majority of that time. That fact makes it different for us" he said kissing her cheek

Starfire beamed at his methods of endearment "I too have shared the feelings for you for many years and I am immensely glad that I have been able to tell you now and that we are together"

"Me too Star" he said with a warm smile. His mind seemed to jog before he remembered something "Anyway Star this isn't the first time we have shared a bed before. I remember I told you how scared I was when I thought I was fighting Slade and afterwards you stayed with me. I had never been so scared in my entire life and nothing since has compared to how terrified I was that night, but you were there to help me like you always are."

"I have cherished the memory of that night ever since because it was the night I first learned your name. And I learned about the Richard that hides behind the mask of Robin." She said with a yawn and a wide smile.

"Let's get some sleep. Tomorrow I will show you around the manor in the daylight and I can show you the gardens. You will love this place Star." He said with an excited grin before kissing her on the forehead lightly "Night Star"

"Pleasant shlorvax my love" she said warmly snuggling into his side

Richard's smile could light up the entire night sky.

 **End of chapter 3**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

Sorry this took so long, I've been pretty busy recently so I've not got around to completing the chapter, but here it is!

Chapter 4 will be uploaded tomorrow which will be the tour. I wrote a lot more for them arriving so the tour is in chapter 4 instead.

It's funny I don't actually aim to write this much fluff but it just sort of comes out in my writing anyway. I'm not gonna complain because I do like some fluff in stories and I hope you guys do as well. Because there is probably gonna be a lot of it.

I've made a bit of a change to the direction of this story, I'm not gonna use Jason as any kind of main plot. I used him as a way of getting Richard and Starfire to Gotham. But I really don't think I can write a lot for him because I am only familiar with him in adulthood as the Red Hood and not when he is a teenager. Don't worry, he will still be in some parts, however I think this story is more about Richard and Starfire more than anything and so it will mostly be about them adjusting to Gotham. To be honest I think a lot of people would probably be more interested in this direction anyway, it means I can write a lot more and have lots more fluff xD.

 **Next Chapter:** Richard takes Starfire on a tour of the manor.


	4. Chapter 4: The Manor

_**Last Chapter**_

" _Let's get some sleep. Tomorrow I will show you around the manor in the daylight and I can show you the gardens. You will love this place Star." He said with an excited grin before kissing her on the forehead lightly "Night Star"_

" _Pleasant shlorvax my love" she said warmly, snuggling into his side_

 _Richard's smile could light up the entire night sky._

* * *

 **Chapter 4: The Manor**

Richard awoke to the bright sunlight pouring in through the large window to his bedroom. He was used to his dark room at the tower and so the new light was blinding to him at first. As he looked around the room, his eyes beginning to adjust, they landed on the redheaded alien girl laid next to him with her arms tightly wound around his sides. He smiled deeply at the sight and decided that he would lie there for a while and relish in the moment before he would get up. He didn't even notice that he was drifting back off to sleep until he felt the girl next to him yawn sleepily and stretch outwards.

"Good morning Richard" she said sleepily untangling one of her arms from around him but leaving the other where it was.

"Good morning Star" he said with a wide smile

"Thank you for allowing me to share your bed with you, it was most delightful" she said looking up at him with a bright smile

"Yeah. Much more pleasant than sleeping by myself" he said with a grin

"Indeed" she replied happily

* * *

The 2 made their way down into the main dining room of the manor where Alfred was already laying out trays of food. They took their seats next to the trays and began to eat from the vast array of food that Alfred had prepared.

As they continued to eat Bruce stepped into the room and took his usual seat at the head of the table. "I'm guessing you two slept okay then?" he said with a wide grin.

Richard was a little shocked but quickly remembered that this was Batman, of course he would know everything that was going on in the manor. He was happy that Starfire hadn't picked up on what Bruce was referring, and he decided that he wouldn't give Bruce the satisfaction of an argument over the matter so he might as well admit it. "Yeah the bed was really comfortable" he said turning to the girl sat next to him "Didn't you think so too Star?" he said causally with a slight grin.

Bruce's eye twitched at the remark, obviously shocked that Richard was actually being blunt and not trying to deny that they spent the night together. Alfred gave a light chuckle of amusement and grinned at Richard.

Starfire finished off what was on her fork before replying "yes the bed was most comfortable and very easy to do the sleeping on" she said with a smile turning to Bruce "I thank you for allowing me to stay here in your home"

Bruce was still a little dumbstruck but wanted to be polite "You are very welcome Starfire. It is always nice to have guests in the manor. It is usually only me and Alfred here so it's nice to fill out some of the rooms in this huge place"

Richard turned to look at Bruce "So where's this new kid then?" he asked quizzically "I didn't see him last night or this morning"

"Jason is still adjusting to the manor and he has been spending a lot of time in his room recently, he even usually requests his meals to be sent there. I'm sure you'll see him soon"

As if on cue a boy no older than 15 or 16 similar in appearance to Richard at that age, entered the room and seemed to stop dead in his tracks as if he was a deer caught in the headlines of an oncoming truck.

Bruce looked over the boy and smiled warmly at him "Jason I would like you to meet Dick and Starfire" he said gesturing towards the couple.

"Hi" Richard said in a friendly tone as if trying to make sure he didn't scare the boy.

"Greetings Jason" Starfire said in an extremely cheery tone before pulling back the chair next to her and Richard "will you be joining us friend?"

Jason stood there dumbstruck staring at the beautiful alien who was speaking to him before he came to his senses "Thanks" he replied taking the seat next to her

"Did you want to discuss something Jason? We don't usually see you out of your room" Bruce said casually.

"Yeah, I thought I heard visitors last night so I decided I would show my face this morning" he paused grinning at Starfire "How long will you be visiting for?"

Richard wasn't fond of the way this kid was looking at his girlfriend but he tried his hardest to supress the feeling. He hadn't even been dating her 48 hours yet and he was already feeling jealousy. "We will be staying here for a while, I've come to monitor your training progress and to help you out if I think you need some. Starfire is my girlfriend and so she came to accompany me" he didn't really need to state that Starfire was his girlfriend at the beginning of conversation but he thought he would lay up some ground rules for this new kid.

Upon hearing those words Jason mentally sighed before turning and smiling at Richard "Ahh okay, so you're going to be my teacher or something then?"

"Well Bruce is gonna be doing most of the teaching. I'm just here to make sure that you will be up to scratch before you don my mantle" he stated

Jason was confused for a moment "what do you mean your mant-…..oh! oh! Dude you're Robin" he said excitedly "Sorry. Totally didn't make the connection earlier….It's gonna be so cool though having the original Robin helping train me to be the next one"

"Well, at least you've got enthusiasm kid." Richard replied with a smirk.

"Have some breakfast Jason and then we can get some training done. You haven't been doing a lot over the past couple days so you've got some catching up to do" Bruce said, happy that Jason was showing some enthusiasm instead of his typically unfazed mood.

* * *

Richard led Starfire down one of the many hallways of the manor and into a very large room "and this is the library Star, it's got like every single book you could think of." And as Starfire went to suggest a title he added, "from Earth" to which she lowered her inquisitive finger.

"Friend Raven would very much enjoy a room like this" she said in wonder as she looked around the many giant bookcases covering every wall of the room.

"Yeah she would" he paused for a moment thinking "We could send her and the others some pictures if you want. Everyone said they would take their communicators with them so they might be able to receive them."

"That is a most wonderful idea Richard!" she said hugging him bone-crushingly tight before letting him go and giggling nervously. "What images should we send to our friends?"

"Well none of them know that we are together. So we could send them one of us holding hands or something" he said a light shade of pink staining his cheeks.

"Oh yes! Our friends must know of the joyous news!"

"Okay, well we can take some pictures outside in the gardens then. You will love the gardens Star, there are hundreds of different flowers and plants." He said taking her hand and leading her out of the library and straight towards the conservatory leading out into the gardens.

* * *

Starfire was led out of the giant glass conservatory and into the secluded gardens of the manor. It was a very large garden but was secluded from view via large hedge rows acting as walls around the manor. Starfire understood that Bruce must like his privacy, so the garden would be no exception.

As Richard led her along the grass, her eyes landed on a multitude of flowers ranging from roses and tulips to sunflowers and even rhododendrons. As she flickered between the sights her eyes gleamed even brighter than the previous. Without even a second notice she grabbed hold of Richard's hand and yanked him quickly in the direction of the roses.

As the two patrolled the garden Richard explained the names of each of the flowers, Starfire knew a few earthen flowers but many in the garden were ones she had never knew existed before. She relished in Richard explaining each of them to her and she found herself to be more interested in hearing him explain than the actual flowers themselves. She adored how we was willing to explain anything and everything to her, she wished she could do the same for him but that would be impossible on Earth. She decided that if they were to ever visit Tamaran again, that she would spend an equal amount of time giving him a tour of her past home.

* * *

After a long tour of the garden Richard led Starfire down to a small stone bench under a willow tree in the centre of the garden and the 2 sat down enjoying the sunshine and each other's company. "We could take a picture here if you want Star?" Richard asked

"Oh yes this is a good place for a photograph" she said eagerly

Richard wrapped one arm around Starfire's waist and held the communicator up, positioning it so that he could fit the 2 of them in the shot "Smile Star" he said with a large grin before the flash went off and he flipped the communicator around to look at the image. He tilted the screen towards Starfire who nodded in approval and he forwarded the image to the other Titans. Secretly looking forward to their reactions at their new relationship.

There was a long silence as Richard's mind thought over what he wanted to speak about. "I hope this Jason kid will turn out alright. As much as Robin is behind me now it will still be hard to say goodbye to it." He said with a sad smile

"You have done the mantle proud Richard and it is time to move on and hand it down to another person so that you can do the moving forward yourself" she paused for a moment "Where did the name Robin originate from? I do not remember ever seeing small birds alongside bats" she said asked sounding puzzled.

Richard chuckled taking hold of her hand "Robin was a nickname my mother gave to me before she died. She said it was because I was born on the first day of spring and so I was her 'little Robin'." He paused sighing deeply "the name is the last thing I really had of my parents so I chose that as my sidekick name. That's why it's gonna be hard to just hand over the name to Jason."

"I truly am sorry for bringing it up Richard" she said solemnly

"Don't be Star. It's good to be reminded once in a while…helps me remember them" he said with a soft smile "she would have loved you Star"

"What?" she replied confused

"My mother." He paused "She would have adored you if she could have been here to meet you"

"If your parents had survived Richard, then a lot of good things wouldn't have happened. You wouldn't have become Robin alongside the Batman, you wouldn't have become a leader of the Titans and rescued me from the Gordanians and we would not be together like we are now" she paused smiling at him "There will always be bad things that happen to us Richard but what comes after is what is important. Despite how strange it may sound, I am somewhat glad that events in your life happened in such ways because it meant that I could meet you" she paused again wrapping her arms around his sides "and meeting you Richard has been the most important and best experience of my life. The negatives of the past allowed for the positives of the present and the future and for that I am grateful." She said warmly before pressing her lips softly to his.

After a few moments Richard pulled away with a large smile "Thank you Star. I have some pictures of my family in my room if you would like to come and look at them with me. I've looked at those pictures almost every day to remember and it would be nice to share them with you"

"I would be delighted to Richard" she said winding her fingers around his before standing and heading back into the manor.

 **End of chapter 4**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

This was a pretty long chapter but I find this is often the case because I need to make a cut off point for the chapter and a lot of the time it will take a lot of words to reach a good cut off point.

Told you Jason would be making an appearance and he will do next chapter as well. But I am still writing this story to be focused on Richard and Starfire so other characters will take more of a backseat role.

 **Next Chapter:** Richard gets to know Jason better and Alfred tells Starfire stories about Richard when he was younger.


	5. Chapter 5: Origins

**_Last Chapter_**

 _After a few moments Richard pulled away with a large smile "Thank you Star. I have some pictures of my family in my room if you would like to come and look at them with me. I've looked at those pictures almost every day to remember and it would be nice to share them with you"_

 _"I would be delighted to Richard" she said winding her fingers around his before standing and heading back into the manor._

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Origins**

It had been a few days since the couple had arrived at the manor and Richard still hadn't really got chance to talk to Jason. Every time he had seen him was either at dinner or when he was heading to train. Despite not liking the kid's frequent glances at Starfire, he did want to get to know the boy if he would be helping to train him.

Richard walked down the corridor of the main bedrooms and located the one which he presumed Jason was staying in, and knocked on the door.

"Come in" said a voice from behind the door.

Richard took the boy's request and stepped into the room "Hi Jason it's me Dick"

The boy looked slightly confused "Oh. Hi, what's up man?"

"I thought we could talk, I haven't really seen you around her much the past few days so I thought it would be good to get to know you a bit better. I mean we're pretty much brothers now"

"Yeah I guess so. There aint really much to know about me" he said casually

"Okay. Well what did you do before Bruce picked you up?" he replied

"Well before, my life was pretty shitty. Dad went to prison. Mom died of a drug overdose." He said in a casual tone.

Richard was shocked by Jason's casual tone about his past, but he himself understood that being non-caring and casual is often the only way to cope with loss. "I was an orphan as well Jason. Both my parents died in a circus accident after the rope swing wire was snapped by some goons looking for money"

"Shit man. I didn't know. Guess we both have shitty pasts then?" he said with a sad smile

"Yeah but after that Bruce found me and we took down the son of a bitch that killed my parents. And we became a team. The dynamic duo of Batman and Robin" he said with a grin "So how did Bruce find you then?" he asked with a smile

"He caught me stealing tires off his car" he said reluctantly

"Stealing tires. Off of the batmobile?" Richard replied with a chuckle of disbelief

"Yeah, well when both your parents are dead it's kind of difficult to get money for food so I resorted to stuff like that so I could make ends meet." He said gritting his teeth

"Sorry Jason, didn't wanna sound like I was making funny of you or anything. You have to do what you have to do in situations like that." he responded apologetically

"Yeah. But after that Bruce took me in and he saw that I could fight and he said that I had some good potential. So I took him up on the offer" he paused "This place sure beats the streets" he said looking around his room.

"Yeah. It sure does" Richard replied with a chuckle

There was a long silence before Jason spoke again "Thanks for being interested in me Dick" he said with a smile "Bruce is cool and all but he never seemed very interested in what happened to me before I came here and it's nice to tell someone about it"

"No problem kid" Dick replied with a grin. "But listen, you and me are gonna have some problems if you're gonna keep eyeballing my girlfriend"

"But I haven't been-" He stammered, not realising he was that obvious. Realising that he had been caught he decided to play along "It's kinda hard not to. She is pretty damn hot" he said with a grin

Richard was going make a reply but realised that Jason was messing with him "Yeah she is. But she's mine so back off" he said with a grin before walking out of Jason's room and back down the hallway.

* * *

Starfire was feeling lonely as she aimlessly wandered the huge mansion desperately looking for something to catch her attention for a while. Richard had gone to talk to Jason and she decided that it was best if they were alone whilst doing so.

Turning a corner she found that she had arrived in a large kitchen area and Alfred was busy chopping up vegetables behind one of the counters. Upon spotting him her mood grew tenfold "Greetings Alfred!" she said with a bright smile.

Alfred turned around surprised by the sudden outburst "Oh, Greetings Miss" he replied with a smile "Is there something I can do for you?"

Starfire supressed a giggle at the sight of Alfred wearing a long apron but noticed the chopping knife next to him. "I am awaiting Richard's return from speaking to Jason so I have been looking for something to preoccupy myself with. Would you mind if I assist you in the chopping of the vegetables?" she asked with a hopeful smile.

Alfred felt sorry for the bored girl and so decided to humour her "Help would be most appreciated Miss" he said with a smile handing her an apron, "I will advise you to wear an apron Miss so that nothing gets on your clothes whilst you are chopping". As she tied the apron around her waist he passed her a chopping knife "I presume you know how to chop vegetables Miss?" he asked with a smile

"Yes, I used to often cook when I lived at the tower" she decided not to mention some of the times where her cooking literally came alive and attacked her or when she made everyone in the tower ill with her Tamaranian delicacies. "Richard taught me a lot of my earthen cooking skills" she added with a smile.

"If I must say miss It is nice that Master Dick has allowed you to call him by his true name. Since his parents death he has allowed no one to use his name." he turned to her smiling warmly "I am immensely glad he has found someone to share it with"

"Yes I too am very happy to be able to use his name. I have known him as Robin for many years and so his name is a pleasant change" she paused getting back to the chopping "Did you teach Richard how to cook, Alfred?"

"Yes. I spent many a time teaching a young Master Dick some good cooking skills. It would not be acceptable for him to have left my care without any cooking skills" he replied with a grin.

After a few minutes of chopping she turned back to Alfred "do you have many stories of Richard when he was younger? I would be extremely happy to hear them as he is reluctant to tell me of his time here himself."

"'Many' would be an understatement Miss" he replied with a grin "I remember there were many times him and Master Bruce would return covered in scrapes and bruises and it would be up to me to fix the two of them. On the first time patrolling Master Dick pushed a button inside of the Batmobile by mistake. The button turned out to be the ejector seat and Master Bruce was launched out of the vehicle. Ever since, Master Dick has not been allowed to touch any of the buttons" he explained with a chuckle

As Alfred recalled stories to her, Starfire was in a mix of awe and fits of giggles. "Did Richard have any friends as a child? Your stories seem to only mention him and Bruce" she asked quizzically

"Not really, however there is Miss Barbara. She has spent a lot of time here helping Master Bruce and Master Dick in previous escapades under the cowl of 'Batgirl'. Whilst Master Dick was away she spent a lot of time here helping Master Bruce with missions." He paused for a moment tipping the contents of his chopping board into the stew and gesturing for Starfire to do the same. "I am sure the two of you will meet whilst you are here. She is the daughter of the commissioner and so she spends a lot of time around the manor"

"That would be most glorious!" she said with excitement, eager to meet a friend of Richard that wasn't a member of the Titans.

"Miss I hope you do not mind in me asking but would you care to tell me about your home? I would be very interested to learn of your world" he asked

Starfire was happy to respond but she decided that she would leave out details about her slavery and instead focus on the more positive elements of her past. "Why yes of course Alfred" she answered with a smile. "My birth name is Koriand'r and I am from the planet of Tamaran, one of the many planets of the Vega system. I was born as a princess of my planet alongside my brother Ryand'r and my sister Komand'r." she paused noticing Alfred's sudden apprehensive look.

"You are of royalty Miss?" he said with an almost panicked tone "I am very sorry for not addressing you in such a manner" he said bowing profusely as if he had been rude to her.

"There is no need to address me in such a way friend" she replied with a smile "I am not royalty on Earth and so I prefer to not be treated as such"

Alfred's calm demeanour returned "Of course Miss. Please disregard my actions and continue"

"As I was saying. Alongside my brother and sister we lived in the royal palace on Tamaran. Unfortunately however our planet was attacked and we were at war by a race known as the Gordanians and most of our planet was damaged or destroyed turning a large amount of the planet's greenery into a wasteland." She paused catching her breath before continuing "Shortly after this me and my siblings were captured by a race of scientists known as the Psions who experimented on us. Sadly I never located my brother and so I presume he did not survive the experimentation" she said sadly

"How awful Miss!" Alfred exclaimed with a look of sadness and empathy

"Yes. However the experimentation gave me and my sister a power of sorts" she said demonstrating by flickering a starbolt in her hand "It meant that we are much more powerful than an average Tamaranian who only possesses eyeblasts and the ability of flight" she said with a smile.

"Yes the power you possess is very impressive Miss Starfire" he said with a grin

She decided that here she would bend the story so that she did not have to mention being in slavery "Sadly soon after we received this power the Gordanians tried to capture me because of my power and so I escaped and fled to Earth. Where Richard and the other Titans rescued me." She paused blushing at how to explain the next part "When I arrived on Earth I had no knowledge of the language but fortunately Tamaranian's have the ability to absorb language through lip contact and so I used Richard to learn the language of English."

Alfred gave a small chuckle and a grin "It must have been a shock to the young Master when you did that"

"Yes, I did not see an issue with this until Richard later explained how lip contact was a symbol of romantic affection on Earth" she explained with a blush.

There was a long comfortable silence after that before Alfred spoke up. "I believe that our task is completed for the moment. I thank you for your help and company Miss Starfire" he said with a grateful smile.

"You are most welcome Alfred" she replied with a bright smile before heading off to Richard's room to await his return from speaking to Jason.

 **End of chapter 5**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

I really enjoyed writing this chapter, much more than the previous chapter. I thought that chapter 4 was really awkward sounding but I feel this is a lot better structured and better written.

Hope you guys like the story so far and if you are please let me know with a review.

 **Next Chapter:** Richard takes Starfire out to a restaurant but Starfire dislikes the fact that she has to go as Kori.

* * *

 **IMPORTANT NOTICE:** I have changed my name from "UnknownAK" to "UnknownTitans". It suits the profile better and also I did not like using UnknownAK as my profile very much so I made the switch. Sorry if it confuses anyone. Only thing thats changed is the shortened URL.


	6. Chapter 6: Fine Dining

_**Last Chapter**_

 _There was a long comfortable silence after that before Alfred spoke up. "I believe that our task is completed for the moment. I thank you for your help and company Miss Starfire" he said with a grateful smile._

" _You are most welcome Alfred" she replied with a bright smile before heading off to Richard's room to await his return from speaking to Jason._

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Fine Dining**

Richard walked down the hallway and towards his bedroom. He was glad that he was able to have a decent conversation with the kid, very much unlike the "No one understands me!" type response he thought Jason would have given him.

He opened his bedroom door and was relatively to find Starfire sprawled out on his bed staring up at the ceiling, seemingly attempting to count the number of different patterns that strewn the ceiling. He walked over the bed before interrupting her daze "Hi Star" he said with a smile

Starfire's head snapped around like she had just been suddenly awoken from a dream "Oh, hello Richard" she said cheerfully "I did not hear you enter". She sat up and shuffled over on the bed so that Richard could sit next to her. "Did you do the 'bonding' with Jason?" she asked with a smile

"Bonding?" he asked confused

"Yes. I have heard that it is common practise for males of your species to converse in the 'man to man bonding'. It is similar to how friend Raven and I speak to each other, however I have read that male's bonding usually involves the discussion of attractive females" she paused for a moment "Is this correct?" she asked trying not to let jealousy slip her tongue.

Richard gave a laugh "Nah Star, don't worry there was no discussion of girls, for two reasons. Firstly I'd rather not discuss girls with a 16 year old kid and secondly the only 'attractive female' I would be speaking about is you" he stated with a grin.

She blushed as she smiled brightly back at him "Thank you for the compliment Richard. And similarly the only attractive male I would do the discussing of is you."

Richard chuckled "Nah, I just got to know Jason a bit better. Learnt about what happened to his family. His parents both died when he was younger and so he was living on the streets for a while until Bruce found him. Explains his solitary attitude I guess" he said with a sad smile. "Bruce picked him up after he caught him trying to break off the wheels of the batmobile to sell them for money" he said with a grin.

Starfire replied with a small giggle "That certainly would be a most interesting meeting"

"Yeah, I told him about my parents and because we have a lot in common, we seemed to get on pretty well. So the talk was successful in my books" he said with a smile

"That is most good news" Starfire replied with a warm smile

Richard looked up to the clock on his wall to and noticed that it was nearly 7pm. "Hey Star do you wanna go out and get dinner? Alfred is making something but I'd like to take you out to a fancy restaurant. There are lots of really good Italian restaurants in Gotham so we could go to one of them. What'd you say?"

Starfire had to keep herself grounded from flight to keep her excitement under control. "That is a most glorious idea Richard! I greatly accept your offer" she paused for a minute before solemnly adding "However. I do not have any appropriate clothing to go to this 'fancy' restaurant. It would not be appropriate for me to go in my uniform" she added with disappointment

"Oh I'm sure that is not the case. Follow me Star" Richard said taking her hand and leading her towards the door and then out into the corridor and down towards Starfire's room.

"Richard why are we going into my bedroom?" she asked, confusion ebbed on her face

"You'll see" he said with a grin leading her towards a large wardrobe In the corner of the room before opening the doors wide.

Starfire stared shocked at the wardrobe that was full of dresses varying in shape and size "But-but I did not bring any of these with me…How did they get here?" she then paused holding a few of the dresses up to herself "and how do they seem to all fit me?" by this point she was utterly confused.

"Alfred is amazing like that. I'm sure he knows people better than they know themselves. He's always prepared for any circumstance and so he must have had these made for you knowing that you would need one at some point." He said with a smile

"He is most generous to have purchased these for me" she paused smiling widely "I now meet the requirements for this 'fancy' restaurant"

"One thing though Star" he replied sadly gesturing to the metal ring that was still on one of her fingers "You're gonna need to use the hologram ring"

"Oh. I see" she replied glumly

"I'm really sorry Star but I want us to be able to go out without anyone noticing us so we can have a nice time together without being bugged"

"Very well Richard" she accepted with a sigh.

Richard gave her a sympathetic smile and left the room to go and get ready himself.

* * *

He found himself staring at the beautiful girl sat across him in a long green dress that went down to her knees but he found himself saddened that the girl didn't look like his Starfire. Her normal ruby hair was replaced with a blonde tone and her golden skin was replaced by a tone almost as pale as his. But worst of all to Richard was the fact that the emerald pools that were her eyes were instead replaced with a common brown hue. She looked completely different and many times he found himself wondering if it even was Starfire at all and if they had just swapped her out with an entirely different girl. But then remembered that no, this wasn't Starfire. It is Kori. And although he found her beautiful, this Kori had nothing on his Star.

* * *

Starfire looked across the table at Richard who she thought looked exceedingly handsome in a buttoned up shirt with a dinner jacket. He wore a pair of contact lenses to cover up his eyes in an effort to hopefully stop people from recognising him. She couldn't help but feel disappointed that she could not see the blue eyes that she loved. Despite how sad it made her, she understood that life might be like this for a while.

Starfire was feeling extremely nervous and anxious tonight. Richard had proposed the evening to just be them going out to dinner, but to Starfire this was the 'first date' she had heard so much about. She had learned that this can determine the entire future of a relationship and whether it will work out or not. To Starfire, on this 'first date' she would have to prove herself to Richard as being worthy of a relationship, and she was mortified by the thought that Richard may not wish to stay in a relationship with her.

Starfire's nerves flared as she noticed that a few others dining kept making slight glances in their direction and the attention only made her more nervous. When the waiter arrived at the table to take their orders she almost fell off of the chair in shock.

Richard squeezed her arm gently "you okay Kori?" he said with slight concern

"Yes I am fine, I was doing the daydreaming" she replied with a nervous giggle, worried deeply by the look of concern on his face.

"As I was saying, what will you be ordering tonight sir?" the waiter continued after the interruption

"I will have the lasagne" he replied simply, handing his menu to the waiter.

The waiter turned his attention to Starfire "And for you Miss?"

* * *

Richard looked over at Starfire's face that was edged with worry and anxiety and realised how stupid he had been. Starfire hadn't gone to any restaurants other than the pizza place in Jump City before and so she obviously wouldn't know what to order. He took her hand gently. "Order whatever sounds good to you Kori" he said with a comforting smile

Starfire gave a miniscule smile before looking down at the menu. There was a long silence as she panickingly read over every option 3 times just to make sure she could remember what to actually say. "I-…I will have the…..spaghetti" she paused and the waiter began writing down the order "served with the greek yoghurt and the mint ice cream" she stammered out with a look of complete fear. Richard gave her a warm smile, completely understanding her strange tastes in food.

"I'm sorry Miss?" the waiter replied with a look of confusion and many of the other patron's eyes were on her obviously hearing parts of her order.

Richard watched as Starfire's eyes filled with tears as some kind of barrier of nerves seemed to have been smashed down, and she stood up almost knocking the table over in her hurry. "I am truly sorry Richard" she sobbed out as she took off in a sprint straight to the women's restroom.

Richard looked on in shock for a while before he realised what had happened and bolted after her.

* * *

Starfire sat with her knees up to her chest on the tiled floor of the bathroom. In her mind she had ruined the first date and so the relationship was destroyed alongside it. She dropped her head into her knees and sobbed quietly. She had been immensely over joyed the past few days that they were in Gotham and she could not believe that it was ending because of her mistakes.

* * *

"Sir, you can't go in there!" the waiter shouted as Richard made his way hurriedly towards the women's restroom.

"Don't care" he said simply before pausing "Also make sure to make her order exactly how she told you" he said with a sound of almost resentment towards the man who for whatever reason had made his love cry.

He strode into the bathroom and scanned the room finding Starfire's sobbing huddled form sat in a corner of the room on the floor. His determination quickly melted away into sadness and empathy for the girl, he didn't know what had made her upset but he didn't care. He was going to fix it.

He quickly went and sat next to Starfire on the floor and pulled the crying girl into his lap so that she could lean back against him. "What's wrong Star?" using her fake name completely slipped his mind at the moment and he didn't care. After a few moments of silent sobbing "Please tell me Star" he said sadly. "Did I do something to upset you? If I did something then tell me so I can apologise and make it right"

Starfire looked up at him with a look of shock "It is what I have done Richard and not what you have done"

"What?" Richard replied with confusion "You haven't done anything wrong Star" he said stroking her arms soothingly.

"I have ruined our first date" she paused looking back at him even sadder than before "I have seen that the first date is what determines whether you will still wish to be in a relationship and because of me not fitting in it has resulted in me ruining date", she paused looking away "and now you will wish to not continue the relationship with me" she said sadly, tears streaming from her eyes.

Richard was shocked but he should have expected her to think this way, she was from an alien world and so earthen customs were important to her because she wanted to fit in. "Nothing has been ruined Star" he said warmly wrapping his arms around her tightly "you haven't ruined the date or anything even remotely like that Star" he paused before carefully adding "and Star, first dates are for people to get to know each other" he titled her face so that she was looking at him before gently pressing the button on the side of the ring to disengage the hologram "I already know how much I love you and I don't need any dates to figure that out. And I am most certainly not breaking up with you Star and I never plan to"

Starfire's mood had skyrocketed dramatically "You…are not?" she asked nervously. He nodded in response to her and she firmly wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tightly "Oh Richard I am so very glad by this news!"

He gently pressed his lips to hers and gave her a warm smile "Good. I brought you out so we could have dinner together and I'll be damned if we won't" he grinned, taking her hand and pressing the button on the ring again before leading her out and back to the table.

Starfire was surprised to see that her order was awaiting her on the table. "You had my order made?" she asked with a bright smile

"Of course I did, I told you that you could order anything you wanted" he replied with a warm smile as the two began to eat.

* * *

The two arrived back the manor late as they had spent a long time at the restaurant enjoying each other's company. So much so by the time they left they had been the last ones there for quite a while.

"I had a great time tonight Star" Richard said with a wide smile

"Yes it was most enjoyable however I am still sorry about my outburst" she said guiltily

"Don't worry about it Star" he replied simply, leading her over to her bedroom door "Good night Star" he said warmly kissing her on the cheek and beginning to head over to his room.

"Richard?" she asked nervously making her way over to him "would it be the o and k to share a bed once again? From my new understanding of our relationship, it seems to me that it would now be acceptable. It is okay if you do not wish it, but it was very pleasant the first night we were here and I do so wish to return to that feeling" she stated hopefully.

"Of course you can" he said with a bright smile opening the door and closing it after she entered. "On one condition though" he stated taking her hand and slipping the ring off of her finger "that it is Star that I am sleeping next to and not Kori"

 **End of chapter 6**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

Go check out my new oneshot "Mares of the night" and also I hope the name change isn't too much of an issue for you guys.

I'm thinking there will be 2-4 more chapters for this story, however this is subject to change if i get more ideas

 **Next Chapter:** Batgirl - (I know I originally said this chapter would be the circus but I've decided to skip that for the meantime and add it in later)


	7. Chapter 7: Miss Gordon

_**Last Chapter**_

" _Richard?" she asked nervously making her way over to him "would it be the o and k to share a bed once again? From my new understanding of our relationship, it seems to me that it would now be acceptable. It is okay if you do not wish it, but it was very pleasant the first night we were here and I do so wish to return to that feeling" she stated hopefully._

" _Of course you can" he said with a bright smile opening the door and closing it after she entered. "On one condition though" he stated taking her hand and slipping the ring off of her finger "that it is Star that I am sleeping next to and not Kori"_

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Miss Gordon**

Barbara Gordon had practically burst in excitement after hearing that Dick had come back to Gotham, she had missed her friend a lot over the past few years and finding out that he had brought Starfire with him only made her excitement grow. She was interested in meeting the girl but her main eagerness came from the amount of ribbing she could give Dick about him having a girlfriend now.

* * *

She bounded through the doors to Wayne manor early that morning in high anticipation.

"Hi Alfred" she said gasping for air as if she had just ran a mile "Where's Dick?" she asked hurriedly as if every second talking was a second wasted.

"Greetings Miss Gordon" Alfred said with a sigh of exasperation from her rude entrance "Master Dick is currently resting in his room, so you should not disturb him" but before Alfred could even finish his sentence Barbara was bolting down the hallway towards the bedrooms.

With a wide grin on her face she almost knocked the door off its hinges as she swung Richard's bedroom door open widely. "Dick! Why didn't you tell me you were-…" she yelled eagerly before cutting herself off. Her grin quickly melted away and was replaced with a look of utter shock as she stared at the couple wide eyed.

* * *

Richard kept drifting in and out of sleep that morning, usually he would be up as early as possible but he found himself incredibly reluctant to leave the cosiness of the bed and Starfire. He would awake randomly to be greeted by the her sleeping face laid on the pillow beside him, even when she was asleep she still had that same cheery smile she always had and he found himself watching it adoringly before drifting back off into a deep sleep.

The euphoria of sleep was shattered around him as he heard the door slamming open and the call of "Dick! Why didn't you tell me you were-…" assaulting his ear drums. In a panic he leapt out of the bed and fell flat onto his back on the floor, startling Silkie who made a mad dash under the bed. He realised that his arm had been hooked around Starfire and so soon she came tumbling down on top of him with a thud and a groan.

The two clambered up and Stared at Barbara with the same wide eyed look she was giving them. "Sorry!" Barbara shouted in a panicked tone before bolting back out of the doorway.

Starfire looked perplexed and startled, "Richard? Who was the intruder and why did she know you?"

"That…was Barbara Gordon" he said exasperatedly "I really should have expected something like this from her" he said with a sigh

"Oh! Alfred told me about her, I would very much like to do the meeting of her!" she said with a new found eagerness towards the intruder.

"Well not a great first introduction was it Star?" he said with a chuckle "Sorry about that" he said with a nervous laugh "I don't think she knew we were sharing a room"

"Oh I understand why she was startled then" Starfire replied with a blush

"Yeah" he paused placing his head in his hands "she is never gonna let me live this down" he said with a long sigh "I need to go and talk to her…"

* * *

Barbara sat in the dining room of the manor still slightly shell-shocked from what she had seen. She couldn't believe that they were already sleeping together considering how new their relationships were. She guessed that Dick was really starting to follow in Bruce's footsteps when it came to the ladies. She was drawn out of her thoughts by the dining room door opening and closing, she looked up to see Dick walking towards her nervously.

"Umm…Hi Babs…..So…how have you been?" he said with a sheepish smile

Barbara was not going to let him worm his way out of the conversation with small talk "You're already sleeping with her?" she stared at him awaiting a response

"Yeah…wait no! Not like that 'sleeping together'" he explained with emphasis

"Then why did I catch the two of you in bed together?" she asked, not fully believing his explanation

"Starfire likes to share the bed with me" he explained "Why? Is there something wrong with that?" he said glaring at her

"Nope" she replied before plastering her face with a playful grin "it's just funny that little Dicky as found himself a girlfriend"

He looked at her mortified "Never call me 'little Dicky' ever again" he said glaring even harder

She took a moment to ponder what he meant "Oh! Get your mind out of the gutter Grayson!" she said in mock disgust

"You're the one who instantly presumed me and Star were 'doing it'" he said raising his voice

As they began to bicker, neither of them noticed that the door had opened and Starfire was standing in the entrance "Please, what were we doing?" she asked quizzically

"Umm" he gulped "Babs thought we were having sex" he explained gently

Starfire eye's widened "Oh! I see now how that could have been inferred" she replied guiltily "I apologise for doing the embarrassing of you Richard"

"She gets to call you Richard" Barbara mock pouted at him "that's no fair!"

"Yeah, and she's the only one who gets to call me that" he said with a grin "so don't get any ideas missy or I'm going to start calling you Barbara" he paused watching Barbara's eye twitch "or how about Miss Gordon?"

"Fine" she replied exasperated before turning to Starfire "So Starfire, how often does lover boy over here mention his best friend in the whole wide world?" she said gesturing to herself with a grin

"Oh, he hasn't done the bringing up of you to me before" she paused, watching as Barbara's face fell, so she hurriedly added "but I'm sure he has talked in great detail of you with the other Titans"

Barbara turned to see Dick's nervous expression and a grin spread across her features "Oh so he has never talked about _us_ then?"

Dick's face turned white, shocked that she would bring their past relationship up in front of Starfire "Babs" he said with a warning tone

"What do you mean by the 'us' friend?" Starfire asked quizzically but with a slightly serious tone

"Oh just that me and lover boy dated a while ago" she paused grinning like a Cheshire cat "Oh, I think I heard Alfred calling me. I'll see you guys later" she said before standing and running out of the room giggling to herself.

* * *

Richard wanted the floor beneath him to open up and drag him down into an abyss where he didn't have to worry about what had just happened. He looked over to Starfire's blank and almost shell-shocked looking face. After a long while he became concerned by her silence "Star? You okay?"

She tilted her head back around to face him "Richard how long is 'a while ago'?" she said her tone placid but with an edge of unease to it.

Richard quickly rushed out his explanation, he knew that Starfire might misinterpret what Babs said "Oh it was a long time ago Star. Before I even moved to Jump City" he paused watching as her face showed slight signs of relief "I was 13 and she was 14, we were just kids. We only ever held hands and I think we kissed once."

Starfire's tone returned to normal and she gave him a small smile "That is good Richard. I was very concerned that I was having the feelings for you whilst you were still doing the dating with Babs"

Richard breathed a heavy sigh of relief "No nothing like that, don't worry about it Star. I should have guessed that Babs would bring it up sooner or later; she always loved to tease me about stuff and to try and embarrass me. Ever since we stopped dating she became more of a sister to me than anything else"

Starfire's smile returned "Yes I can see how what she said would do the embarrassing of you" she said with giggle "She did seem like a most marvellous friend though" she stated with a smile

"Yeah she's great once she's done teasing" he paused smiling "she was always there to help me and Bruce out when we needed it. Despite Bruce never wanting help, we would have fell apart without her help. She still is Batgirl when she is needed but Bruce seems to work by himself most of the time now, Jason should fix that though and I'm sure that Batgirl will follow suit"

* * *

The residents of the manor all sat around the dining room table "So Jason, how's your training with Bruce going?" Barbara asked to break the silence

"It's going pretty well I guess, Dick's been giving me some pointers with some things but Bruce says that I'm not doing too bad. Ain't that right Bats?" Jason replied with a grin

"You are showing progress Jason" Bruce responded simply

"Yeah you're doing pretty well but don't get cocky kid. Cockiness will end up being your downfall" Richard stated with a grin

Starfire turned to look at Richard inquisitively "Richard, what is this cock and why is it being formed into a noun corresponding to the adjective?" she asked innocently "I have heard it being used before"

Richard looked at her sheepishly whilst all the other patrons smirked at her remark and Barbara was almost choking on her food "Umm I'll explain it to you later Star"

"Yeah, I bet you will" both Barbara and Jason said in unison before staring at each other and grinning at their shared taste in mockery

Richard glared at the 2 of them before Bruce changed the subject. "Dick, you and Starfire are expected to be attending the Gotham wine festival as my guests next Friday"

"Wine festival?" Richard asked confused "Were not even old enough to drink yet, so why are we going there?"

"Well the commissioner was really interested in seeing you again and so he suggested that I bring you with me to event as my personal guest; that invitation also extends to Starfire"

"Wait, Dad's going? He hasn't even mentioned it to me yet" Barbara asked in confusion

"I'm sure your dad will want you to go with him, he's probably just forgot to ask you yet" he replied simply

"Yeah I guess. It's getting late anyway so I'm gonna head off" she turned and smiled at Starfire "It was nice meeting you Starfire. I'll see you at the wine festival next week"

"I will do the looking forward to it friend!" Starfire replied with a bright smile

"I'll walk you out Babs" Richard said stepping up from his seat and following Barbara to the front door.

She stopped just before the exit and turned to him "She's a keeper, Dick. You better not mess this up" she said with a serious tone

"Trust me. I'm not planning to" he said mimicking her tone

"Good" she paused, a playful smile forming on her face "Enjoy your 'sharing a bed without the benefits'" she pondered for a moment "or 'virgin slumber party'. I could keep these going" she said with a wide grin

"Yeah thanks Babs" he said rolling his eyes "Don't worry. I will" he said pushing her out of the door with a grin and making his way back to the dining room.

 **End of chapter 7**

* * *

 **Author Note's:**

This chapter was much better than my original plan for chapter 7 so I'm glad I rolled with the idea. It's fun writing a different character for once and Babs is just a great character overall anyway.

I decided to sneak Silkie into the chapter as well if you noticed. I just did that to show he is there and that I haven't forgot him or anything and that he has been in the background the entire story. It's just he isn't exactly a major character and so I often forget to include him.

Also I just thought I'd clarify the ages of the characters. Richard – 18, Starfire – 18, Jason – 16, Barbara – 19

The reason for these ages is that I see the characters in the show as being roughly 16 years old except for beast boy who I think is younger at like 15 and cyborg is older than the others at about 17 or 18. And so this story is meant to be about 2 years after the show.

Also in case you were wondering, I use a lot of Americanism's in my stories so that they seem more authentic. I've read quite a few stories where the author has made reference to TV shows or foods that don't even exist in the USA and so it seems confusing and strange and so I aim to make it as authentic as possible.

Anyway hope you enjoy the chapter, if you do let me know with a review.

 **Next Chapter:** A call from Cyborg and the wine festival


	8. Chapter 8: The Call

**Author's Note:**

Decided to split the call and the wine festival up as it was getting very long and they could easily have been separate chapters anyway.

* * *

 _ **Last Chapter**_

 _She stopped just before the exit and turned to him "She's a keeper, Dick. You better not mess this up" she said with a serious tone_

" _Trust me. I'm not planning to" he said mimicking her tone_

" _Good" she paused, a playful smile forming on her face "Enjoy your 'sharing a bed without the benefits'" she pondered for a moment "or 'virgin slumber party'. I could keep these going" she said with a wide grin_

" _Yeah thanks Babs" he said rolling his eyes "Don't worry. I will" he said pushing her out of the door with a grin and making his way back to the dining room._

* * *

 **Chapter 8: The Call**

The week leading up to the wine festival had been pretty uneventful, Richard had exhausted most of his options of places to show Starfire and so now the couple mostly just spent their time in the manor. Starfire didn't seem to have an issue with staying In and found exploring the manor was entertainment enough for her however Richard felt like a kid who was locked inside for the summer.

He had made his way to the conservatory to watch the raindrops falling against the glass windows all around him. He used to spend time here listening to the raindrops when he was a kid, he always found them to be soothing and as he looked out to the gardens of the manor he could feel his issues starting to pour away like the raindrops above him.

His peaceful silence was broken by a strange beeping sound coming from his waist, he reached down and felt for the source of the sound and retrieved his ringing communicator. He had been so accustomed to having it strapped to his belt for years that he unconsciously had strapped it to the leather belt he now wore instead. He snapped it open to be greeted by a familiar cybernetic face.

"Hey Rob!" Cyborg greeted enthusiastically "How ya been man?"

"Hey Cy!" he replied brightly "I've been great"

Cyborg grinned at him "Yeah, judging from those pictures I got I can see that" he paused smiling excitedly at his friend "We all knew it would happen eventually"

"You did?" he replied

"Yeah everyone did, us, Titan's East. Even Control Freak called it" he laughed warmly "I'm thrilled for you guys, but when did it happen?"

"After Raven left I got a message from Bruce telling me he wanted me to come back to Gotham. Star was really upset and the day I go to leave, she kisses me and pretty much begged me not to go so I asked her to come with me"

"Wow" he paused "How did Bats take to you bringing Star?"

"Surprisingly well" he said with a smile "I expected to get the paranoia about aliens he usually shows but he actually seems to like her"

"Well that's something" he paused trying to look around Richard "Where is the little lady anyhow?"

"I think she was talking to-" he was cut off by a distant shout

"Friend Cyborg!" she shouted flying rapidly down the hallway towards the conservatory

"How did she even hear us?" Cyborg asked shaking his head unbelievingly

Starfire landed next to Richard and grabbed hold of the communicator "Greetings friend Cyborg!" she said excitedly "I hope that you are well friend!"

Cyborg chuckled warmly "Hi Star, I've missed your cheery face. It's a lot more serious and boring over here" he said playfully

"Watch it sparky" they heard the background voice of Bumblebee

"And I have missed you dearly friend! I have done the missing of the 'booyahs' and the video games" she said happily

"I saw the pictures you guys sent" he replied with a smirk

"Oh yes, it is most joyous news is it not?" she smiled hugging Richard from the side

"Yeah, It's about time too. The rest of us have known you guys had a thing for each other since day one. We just wanted to let you two figure it out for yourselves" Cyborg replied with a grin

"Yes, we were both the unaware of each other's feelings. However that does not matter because Richard and I are together now" she said cheerfully

"Richard?" Cyborg asked confused "I thought you said we could only call Dick? I like Richard better though" he said with a grin

"Yeah don't push your look Victor" he replied mockingly

"Point taken Dick" he replied quickly "By the way, you guys heard anything from Raven?" he asked quizzically

"Nope, she's probably really busy though. I'm sure she will leave a message at some point" Richard replied casually "How's Beast Boy doing?"

"Oh he's doing pretty good. His whole 'Hollywood acting career' Is on and off so most of his time is spent helping Titans East"

"How's the crime fighting business going down in Steel then Cy?" Richard asked

"Good and bad. More criminals but most are on the level of Control Freak, so they aint much of an issue" he said with a chuckle "You fighting any in Gotham?"

"Nah I've took a break from work for a while whilst we're here" he said holding Starfire's hand and smiling at her Besides this is Bruce's territory and he's got it covered for the most part. If he needs help then I'll go help but It's nice to take a break"

"Yeah It's nice to see that you're actually relaxing for once in your life" he paused smiling "Anyway I gotta get back to cooking. I'm making tacos and Mas Y Menos burn through those things so I've gotta make a truck load of em" he continued laughing

"Okay Cy, you get back to your cooking"

"Yes, goodbye friend Cyborg!"

"See ya later guys" he finished cheerfully

Starfire turned to Richard "I must agree with friend Cyborg. It is nice to see that you are able to relax for a change Richard, you were usually very tense and the stressed but you are much more relaxed here"

"Yeah. That's mostly though because you're here with me. I'm sure without you here I would probably be chasing after Bruce" he admitted with a sad chuckle

"Well then I hope to be with you for a very long time Richard" she replied with a smile

"Yeah. Me too Star" he said with a grin

 **End of chapter 8**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

Sorry this is a little shorter than usual chapter length, but the next chapter will be up very soon.

 **Next Chapter: Wine festival**


	9. Chapter 9: Wine

_**Last Chapter**_

 _Starfire turned to Richard "I must agree with friend Cyborg. It is nice to see that you are able to relax for a change Richard, you were usually very tense and the stressed but you are much more relaxed here"_

" _Yeah. That's mostly though because you're here with me. I'm sure without you here I would probably be chasing after Bruce" he admitted with a sad chuckle_

" _Well then I hope to be with you for a very long time Richard" she replied with a smile_

" _Yeah. Me too Star" he said with a grin_

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Wine**

It had finally rolled around to the night of the wine festival and Alfred had spent a long time picking out outfits for the couple to wear to the event. They were told that it was an event in the upmost of Gotham's high society and so they were ordered to dress the part. Richard had his designer suit picked out for him quickly and he was soon ejected from the room and back to his own so he could change. He hated having to wear clothes like this but Bruce had requested them to dress appropriately so he decided the suit would have to do.

He made his way down the hallway and waited patiently outside of Starfire's room. Alfred had spent hours picking out an outfit for her and seemed to have changed his mind a dozen times before he finally made his mind up. Bruce had told them that he didn't think Starfire would need her hologram ring tonight as the type of people who went to the wine festivals weren't exactly fluent with superheroes from California, let alone being able to recognise them in a completely different city. However because Richard was worried about her getting noticed by someone, the ring was used to change the hue of her skin to a paler shade.

After about 20 minutes of pacing back and forth outside the room, the door finally opened, he looked up with a smile but his jaw dropped open as he saw the visage of Starfire before him. Her outfit was an emerald green evening dress that was cut off beneath her knees and she wore a matching green pair of ballroom shoes. He shook his head to snap himself out of his daze and to stop himself from drooling over her.

"Richard!" she gasped clasping her hands together "You look most handsome" she said stepping over to him and hugging him warmly

"You look incredible yourself Star. Alfred really outdid himself this time" he said with a large grin

"Yes Alfred is very skilled at the choosing of clothing" she replied with a smile

He took her hand gently and the two made their way down into the lobby of manor where Bruce was stood waiting for them alongside Alfred.

"You two look very….appropriate" Bruce said simply

"Oh come on Bruce, you can do better than that" Richard replied with a grin

"Okay, you two both look very nice. Starfire especially" he added matching Richard's grin

"That's better" he replied with a smirk

* * *

The wine festival was being held in Gotham City Hall and the place could be seen from miles away, the lights pierced through the numerous windows and lit up the streets surrounding in bright light. The 3 made their way up the stairs and towards the silver haired man waiting for them at the entrance.

"Bruce!" the man said eagerly shaking Bruce's hand warmly

"Jim. It's nice to see you again" he replied with a warm smile "Did you bring Barbara with you?"

"Yeah, she's in there chatting with the locals as usual" he tilted his glasses to look at the 18 year old stood behind Bruce "Dick! So nice to see you made it. You've grown a lot since I last saw you"

"Yeah, and your hair has got a bit whiter than before commissioner" Richard replied with a smile

Gordon chuckled warmly before noticing the beautiful redhead stood at Richard's side "And who is the lovely young lady you brought with you?" he asked smiling at the girl

"Commissioner, this is my girlfriend Kori Anders" Richard stammered out a little bit trying to make sure he used the right name

"Pleasure to meet you Kori" he said warmly offering her a handshake

Starfire smiled brightly back in response before taking his hand in what felt like a vice grip and shaking eagerly "It is a pleasure to meet you also Mr Gordon"

The Commissioner retrieved his sore hand and chuckled nervously "You've got quite a firm handshake there Kori" he paused, smiling and turning to the others "Let's head inside. There are a lot of people who want to chat with you Bruce"

As the 4 entered The Commissioner led Bruce over to the right towards a group of wealthy looking business owners who all turned and cheered at Bruce's arrival. Starfire and Richard ambled around until they found a table that they headed straight towards. Neither of them knew what they were supposed to be doing, they seemed to have only really been invited as a way of showing their faces so they decided it was easier to keep it this way.

* * *

Starfire slowly sipped the wine that both her and Richard had been offered by The Commissioner, he knew that they were not of drinking age but he knew that they were responsible and so wouldn't go overboard with the wine. Starfire had never had wine or any form of alcohol before and found it to be strange. She found that the wine tasted very similar to a drink Tamaranian royalty would eat at meal times and so she guessed that they are probably made using similar methods.

"Have you ever had wine before Kori?" Richard asked with a smile

"No, I have had something similar to it before on Tamaran, however I find this to be more pleasant tasting" she replied thoughtfully

"Yeah, there are thousands of different wines. They ferment it in barrels over different periods of time and the age of the wine gives it different flavours. The high class wine like this stuff is usually very old which is what makes it taste better than most wines" he explained

"That is most intriguing Richard, you seem to be very knowledgeable of this beverage" she replied

"Yeah, Bruce is a connoisseur of alcohol, he drinks all the finest stuff and so he talks about it a lot. Kinda picked up the information over the years I guess. Like those pointless facts you get stuck in your head."

Starfire nodded in agreement and decided to cast her eyes around the establishment, she had never seen such a grand décor in all of her life. The room was a marble white colour that was laced with gold around the edges of it, there were lots of patterns and other intricate designs that bordered the colour and she thought that the level of wealth the room expressed rivalled that of the grand palace that used to be her home.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a redhead moving her way through the crowd of people and towards them, she wore an outfit similar to Starfire but in a garnet red hue instead of an emerald green.

"Greetings friend!" Starfire smiled brightly at the redhead advancing towards them

"Hi guys!" Barbara said excitedly sitting down at the table next to the couple

"You look great Babs" Richard greeted with a smile

"Thanks Dicky" she replied with a small grin

Richard rolled his eyes in return "So what's up? Your dad said you've

"Oh my god" she sighed in exasperation "You have no idea how boring some of these people are, all they want to talk about is stock values or what year the wine is from" she paused pushing aside the matter "You guys look awesome by the way! I'm guessing Alfred picked them out for you?" at the response of the 2 nodding she continued "Yeah, that man is incredible"

"So I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that I'm not calling you Starfire tonight?" she asked in a hushed tone

Starfire shook her head "For public appearance I am Kori Anders"

"Cool name. Did you just randomly pick it out?" she replied in interest

"No, my birth name is Koriand'r; I adopted the name of 'Starfire' when I came to earth as it is the closest thing to my name in English. For public appearance Richard suggested the name 'Kori Anders' as it is very close to my birth name.

"Ahh I see well Kori it is then" she replied with a smile

"So Babs, anyone interesting here tonight?" Richard asked

"Nah, just the usual bigshots that seem to flock to these big fancy events" she paused with a sigh "I remember the days when these would be littered with mob bosses or drug lords just waiting to be caught by us but now it seems like it's just old people with a legitimate interest in wine tasting"

"I guess Bruce is doing better than ever" he replied

"Yeah he's doing great, I do miss the low-scale crooks we used to catch….Now we get psychopaths with super powers attacking the city rather than just business men in suits" she paused with a chuckle "We've gone from Penguin holding up a bank without any casualties to the Joker blowing up a casino just to show he can kill people"

"Yep, it's definitely gotten tougher as we've gotten older" he replied thoughtfully

"Did you guys ever get that kind of stuff back in Jump?" she asked quizically

"We had many of the super villains however there were very little civilian casualties that would occur and thankfully we were able to prevent many of the issues" Starfire answered with a smile

"Jump must be a hell of a lot safer than Gotham then" she paused lowering her voice "Bruce and I have heard about this new hired assassin named 'Deathstroke' running around and picking off some wealthy people" Barbara explained

"Interesting name" Richard replied thoughtfully

"His real name is Slade Wilson but I guess that doesn't sound as threatening" she replied with a shrug

Richard and Starfire both stared at each other mortified before Richard managed to speak "Slade as in a guy wearing an orange and black mask?" he asked nervously

"Yeah" she replied and then took on a more worried tone at the sight of the 2 faces in front of her "Do you know him?"

"Know is as you say, the 'understatement'" Starfire replied sadly "We did battle with Slade many times in the past"

"Yeah, we fought for years but he wasn't an assassin. He was a criminal mastermind, the type of person who would be the one hiring assassins. He left Jump after the Trigon incident and we didn't see anything of him after that" he paused "What type of weaponry does he use?"

"Most of his assassinations are using a sniper rifle but he does have two katanas mounted on his back so I'm guessing he's a swordsman as well" she replied matter-of-factly

Richard's face was ebbed with concern "When we fought him about the worst he used was his Bo-staff, I guess he favours the lethal approach now"

"Yeah. Bruce is waiting for him to make a bigger move before going after him. At the moment it just looks like he's in it for the money, so I guess he's changed a lot since you guys fought him"

Richard really wanted to ask more questions but he was determined to not return to his past state, for months on end he had sat alone, locked away from the others obsessing over when Slade would make his move without it ever working out in his favour and as he looked over at the nervous look Starfire was giving him he knew for her sake more than his own that he couldn't be like that again "Okay, well for meantime we should let Bruce deal with it"

Starfire squeezed his hand comfortingly "Yes, I think that would be most wise"

"You guys enjoying yourselves?" Commissioner Gordon interrupted the tense discussion with a smile

"It is a very appealing establishment and the wine is most enjoyable" Starfire replied with a smile

"That's good" he paused looking around at some of the other patrons of the festival "You two should go have a chat with some of the locals, I'm sure they'd be interested to hear about what you've been up to the past few years Dick"

"Sure thing Commissioner" Richard replied with a sigh before heading off towards a group

* * *

Richard was approached by a lot of people interested in his return to Gotham and questioning where he had been but he was paying little attention to their conversations and more to the amount of men eager to chat with Kori. Most seemed innocent and polite who had simply discussed the event with her. However he had noticed that there was a few who were a bit blunter and less subtle with their compliments of "hot" and "smoking". He chuckled as he watched her promptly patting herself down to make sure that she was not indeed aflame.

"Hi there" a voice spoke up over his daydreaming

He turned to look at the figure of an attractive older woman who appeared to be in her early 40's "Hi" he responded simply

"You're Dick right? Bruce's son?" she asked casually

"Yeah" he replied simply, looking over at the sight one of the men who were chatting to Kori was now laid flat out on his back whilst the other men cheered and laughed

"My name's Pam. I came here with my husband" she said gesturing to one of the cheering men "however I was wondering if you would be interested in a drink?" she asked winking at him

"I came here with my girlfriend" he said pointing at Starfire who was now marching away from the crowd and towards his location "Also I wouldn't let your husband know that you are offering drinks to other men if I were you. Now could you please move away so I may speak with my girlfriend" He didn't want to be rude to the woman but he had little patience for someone being so casual about having an affair.

"Fine!" the woman declared stomping away

Starfire marched over towards Richard and embraced him tightly whilst sighing in frustration

"What's happened Kori?" he asked softly

"That chlorbag did as you would say, the 'grabbing of my rear'" she stated vehemently

"Is he the one on the floor?" he asked carefully

"Yes, I was not pleased by his action and I lost my temper and punched him in the nose" she paused sighing looking over at the man on the floor "Regardless of what he did, I should not have struck him"

"He was an asshole and had it coming, you did the right thing Star and it looks like those guys agree with me" he said pointing over at the group of men still laughing and jeering at the guy on his back clutching his nose "If you hadn't done it then I sure would have done it" he replied shortly

"You would have?" she asked quizzically

"Of course I would, assholes like that aren't allowed to just grab you whenever they feel like and neither is anyone else for that matter" he stated simply

"Except for you" she thought allowed before gasping and covering her mouth before she accidentally said anything else. She hadn't had much wine but she felt it had certainly gave her some abnormal level of confidence which she was unsure if it was a curse or a blessing.

Richard's face turned a deep shade of crimson and he smiled at her sheepishly. Looking over to where their table was he saw that The Commissioner was now sat speaking to Barbara and seemed to have brought some more wine for them. "Anyway Star….I think the commissioner got us some more wine so let's head back over to the table"

"Richard I am most apologetic for my comment" she said ashamedly "I did not mean for it to be inappropriate"

"It wasn't inappropriate Star, it just surprised me is all" he looked at the deep red hue that still masked her cheeks "You are allowed to tell me stuff like that if you want to Star, we're together now so you really don't have to hide things from me if you would rather tell me" he said reassuringly

"Okay" she replied simply, a little less mortified by her sudden outburst, as the couple headed back over to the table.

 **End of chapter 9**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

Sorry this took a while to post. Some of the chapters I could burn through in a couple of hours but this one took me a few days and I kept re-going over parts and changing them multiple times.

Not the greatest ending, but how was I supposed to recover from that level of awkwardness? xD

Someone gave me a really interesting for story and so I will start writing that soon, it will be a one-shot entitled "The Visitor" so look forward to that coming in the next few days.

I'm running out of ideas for this story at the moment and so any suggestions/ideas would be greatly appreciated and would help me out a ton. You can either leave them as a review or just private message me.

 **Next Chapter: "The Search" -** Starfire is concerned by Richard's returning obsession with Slade - Less fluff, more angst, for the new few chapters.


	10. Chapter 10: The Search

_**Last Chapter**_

" _Richard I am most apologetic for my comment" she said ashamedly "I did not mean for it to be inappropriate"_

" _It wasn't inappropriate Star, it just surprised me is all" he looked at the deep red hue that still masked her cheeks "You are allowed to tell me stuff like that if you want to Star, we're together now so you really don't have to hide things from me if you would rather tell me" he said reassuringly_

" _Okay" she replied simply, a little less mortified by her sudden outburst, as the couple headed back over to the table._

* * *

 **Chapter 10: The Search**

Soon after the wine festival, reports flew in of an orange and black, masked assassin taking out seemingly random figures of power. Bruce was trying to make connections out of the murders but the only thing they all had in common was an affiliation of drug trafficking, due to their high statuses it would appear that they were the leaders of the operations.

Bruce had been handling most of the incidents himself alongside Jason; the kid had finally reached a point where he was allowed to accompany Bruce in a Robin suit of his own. The suit was very similar to Richard's old suit however the traffic light green had been replaced by ebony black. Jason had proven himself to be a skilled ally and he welcomed the chance to fight alongside Bruce and to prove himself.

Starfire was thankful that Richard did not seem to take much interest at first however she noticed that his simple questions about Bruce's progress, was now forming into a lingering curiosity about the assassin. She knew how dangerous Slade was in the past even when he was taking a backseat approach and having others fight for him. Now he was Deathstroke, a hired assassin who seemed eager to use lethal force and she did not like the idea of taking him on. Regardless Richard seemed to be growing more and more eager to find him and take him down.

She wanted to tell him to let Bruce deal with it but she knew as well as Richard that even Bruce would struggle against such a foe by himself and Richard seemed eager to take this excuse as a way of slipping back into his old, obsessive ways. It had started with him simply asking Bruce about Slade but it gradually progressed to spending more and more time in the Bat-cave looking through reports and eyewitness documentation of the assassinations.

His interest was also taking a toll on the amount of time the couple were spending together. It went from spending the day together to now where Starfire was lucky to spend more than an hour with him, disregarding meal times when he would usually spend a lot of time conversing with Bruce anyway. Bruce seemed almost thrilled to have Richard helping him once again and she realised that the cunning Batman probably had expected his help in the first place. It was never just about helping Jason, it was about helping him as well.

* * *

Starfire had been sat at the table in the kitchen for most of the morning, she didn't understand why she had chosen this place to sit but she guessed it must be in hope that Richard would come up here and she would be able to spend some time with him. She could have gone down to the Bat-cave but she doubted that she would really be welcome in there and that staying up in the manor for the most part would probably be the best option.

Her thoughts were brought to a close by the smiling face of Alfred who had arrived and instantly begun work in the kitchen. "Good morning Miss Starfire" he greeted with a smile

"Good morning friend" she replied with a smile

Alfred scanned around the room "Is Master Dick not accompanying you this morning?" he asked in slight confusion

"He is busy aiding Bruce in his work" she replied meekly

"Oh? It is rare that I see the two of you apart from one another. Would you not be interested in accompanying Mast Dick in his work?" he asked with a small smile

"I do not believe that my help would be very welcomed" she replied sadly "Bruce has been very kind in allowing me to stay here and I would not like to overextend my welcome by intruding on such a personal place" she explained thoughtfully

"I'm sure that is not the case Miss, however I do understand your concern" he paused with a smile "Would you mind informing me of what they are investigating? I have not been told as of yet"

"They are looking at reports of an assassin named Deathstroke. Richard and I have done battle with him numerous times when he used the name Slade" she answered with concern

"Ah yes. I heard Miss Barbara mention the name when she was speaking to Master Bruce" he paused analysing her face "I presume this man is not a friend of either of yours?" he asked with a chuckle

"No, he is most certainly not a friend of ours. He was very dangerous and a source of unrelenting stress for myself and the rest of the Titans" she paused looking up sadly "Richard suffered the most. He would spend days researching Slade and desperately trying to find out anything he could to aid us in victory. We did not see him for days on end and he would not speak of his findings" she paused once again, her eyes glistening with a few tears "I fear that he has returned to this in his current search" she said miserably

"Master Dick was always very obsessive in his younger years and from what you have told me that seems to still be the case" he replied in thought "However, I'm sure if you speak your concerns to him then it may resolve your worries"

"Yes, you are probably right friend. Thank you for your advice" she smiled

Alfred nodded with a smile and resumed his kitchen work

* * *

The rest of the day went by the same as the morning, lonely. Starfire had spent hours just strolling around the manor trying to find anything to pass the time. She could have easily just let her brain melt away watching the television however she knew that even the loneliness would follow her there as her previous television time had always been spent around Richard or the other Titans. When the time came for dinner she had to calm her giddiness at relinquishing her boredom, even if it was just for a short while.

She sat at the table, eagerly awaiting Richard's arrival and she had to subdue the wide grin that was forming on her face as he walked into the room and took the seat next to her.

"Hi Star" he said simply

"Greetings Richard" she replied with a smile, however she was exceedingly disappointed. For the most part he would give her a hug or a kiss in greeting, however tonight he seemed to have forgotten his customs. Regardless, at the moment she was just happy to get to speak to him "Has your day been enjoyable?"

"I guess so" he replied simply with a shrug

"Oh. Have you made any progress with finding Slade?" she asked hoping he would use more detail this time

"Not much" he said taking a bite of his food "That reminds me, I've gotta get back to helping Bruce straight after dinner" with a small tone of remorse

"I understand" she replied, sadly

Richard gave her a sad smile "I'll try and spend some more time with you soon Star"

"Okay" she tried her hardest to believe his words

* * *

Regardless of his words there were more lonely days for Starfire ahead of her and she had found that her nights were even lonelier. Before she would find immense comfort in sharing Richard's bed with him but now he would spend hours long into the night helping Bruce and so she didn't really see the point in sharing his room.

She climbed sadly into her bed which she had occupied very little over the elapsed time in Gotham. She sighed sadly and rolled over, desperately hoping that the search would be over soon.

 **End of chapter 10**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

I decided that this story needed a bit of angst/drama in it somewhere and so this and the new few chapters will fill that void. I hope it wasn't too depressing, it was wrote in Starfire's perspective to show how lonely Richard's absence makes her feel. Obviously Richard isn't avoiding or ignoring her on purpose but to Starfire that's how it feels.

Get ready for more angst next chapter!

 **Next Chapter:** " **The Hunt** " – Slade is finally tracked down after days and days of searching and it's time for Richard to confront his old foe once more. But this time it won't be as Robin.


	11. Chapter 11: The Hunt

**_Last Chapter_**

 _Regardless of his words there were more lonely days for Starfire ahead of her and she had found that her nights were even lonelier. Before she would find immense comfort in sharing Richard's bed with him but now he would spend hours long into the night helping Bruce and so she didn't really see the point in sharing his room._

 _She climbed sadly into her bed which she had occupied very little over the elapsed time in Gotham. She sighed sadly and rolled over, desperately hoping that the search would be over soon._

* * *

 **Chapter 11: The Hunt**

The hunt for Slade, or Deathstroke as he was calling himself now, was going abysmally. Richard had barely gotten any sleep over the past week and even with the minds of Bruce and Barbara helping him, they still had made little progress. Slade was good at evading site, as Richard should have expected. Every sighting of him was covered and he didn't even seem to leave a footprint of where he had been. It was hard to believe an armoured gun toting mercenary could be this stealthy.

Richard's head throbbed from lack of sleep and the amount of stress he was dealing with just trying to make any kind of progress whatsoever. Worst of all was the aching in his heart, he had barely had any time to talk to Starfire over the past week and he regretted every hour that he spent away from her. He had promised her that he would not become like his old self again, but it seemed he had broken this promise and within only a month of dating he had returned to his lonely, obsessive search methods. He could see that it was taking a toll on her as well as him, every time he had to leave her she looked gradually more hurt, to the point where her usual overly cheerful smile had faded into a sad frown. In the past she always had the other Titans to entertain her, but now whenever he was alone, so was she.

He slammed his fist into the table at the side of him as he watched another surveillance tape of Slade seemingly disappearing into thin air after leaving a scene. He was starting to question even bothering anymore as each new tape only showed the same outcome. However this tape seemed slightly different, he noticed that Slade was running with a slight limp in his right leg, Richard instantly took interest in this small detail and wound the tape back to where he witnessed that Slade had indeed injured his foot after jumping over a wire fence. He quickly moved onto the next part of the tape and sure enough he was able to spot Slade's drastically slower movements, heading straight in the direction of a run-down motel in the outskirts of the city.

"Bruce, Babs" Richard called simply gesturing to the video footage "looks like we've found where he's hiding"

"Didn't you say Slade was the leader of a crime syndicate back in Jump City? Why would he be staying in a place like that" Barbara asked in confusion

"I guess being an assassin isn't as glamorous as a crime boss. Especially not in Gotham" Richard replied with a shrug

"Regardless. At least we've got a pinpoint on his location. I suggest we act sooner than later, it's unlikely an assassin would want to stay in the same place for too long" Bruce stated simply

"Agreed" Richard replied with a nod

"Did you bring your suit with you?" Barbara asked quizically

"Don't worry about it. I had Alfred make me a new one" Richard answered with a grin before heading off around the corner and dressing into his suit and stepping back around the corner a few minutes later "So, how do I look?" he asked with a smirk

"Woah…nice threads Dickie" Barbara replied with a smirk "But what the hell is that blue eagle looking thing on your chest meant to be?"

"To be honest, I have no clue. Starfire met a future version of me a few years back and so when I asked her about it she drew down the design for me. So I decided why not use that as my next suit?" he paused folding his arms in front of him and grinning widely "How does Nightwing sound?"

"Interesting design" Bruce replied simply "Suits you"

"Nightwing?" Barbara asked through fits of giggles "you're shittting me right?"

"Nope. Why? Got a problem with it Barbara?" Richard asked with a smirk

"No sir Mr Nightwing sir!" she answered through another fit of laughter

"Good. We will go after Slade now, whilst he is still staying at the motel" Richard replied

"Don't you want Starfire to come with us?" Barbara asked quizzically

"She's going to be upset with me, but I'm not letting that psycho near her. He was already dangerous when he just used a staff but if he is using guns now, then I am not letting her get hurt. She may be strong, but I doubt she can block bullets and so I'm not gonna take that risk" he paused with before continuing with a snarl "after all that he's done to me and the Titans. I'm gonna love taking him down"

* * *

Starfire had been bored out of her wits for the numerous time in the past week and she was sick of being alone. She demanded the right to be able to speak with her boyfriend who had been all but avoiding her over the past week. She was determined that if she just voiced her concerns with him then he would understand and find a way to spend time in her. With newfound confidence she marched down the hallways of the manor in search of her boyfriend. She checked every room she believed he could be in, his bedroom, the library, the kitchen and then finally she made her way down into the dark abyss that was the Batcave. Richard had told her about it before but she could not understand how someone like Richard (who's joy could even reach levels similar to herself) could have been raised and worked in the darkness.

She spotted a form out on one of the levels amongst the darkness and flew towards it, "Richard? Are you here?" she asked nervously

The surprised form of Alfred turned around quickly and smiled sheepishly at the young hovering alien "No Miss Starfire, It is just me"

"Greetings Alfred, I believed that I would be able to find Richard down here. Please, where would I be able to locate him?" she asked curiously

"I am not completely sure on that matter Miss. I believe that he, Master Bruce and Miss Gordon left recently to deal with the man named Slade that you mentioned before" he informed with a look of concern

Starfire's eye twitched at the information and the look of curiosity she had before quickly morphed into a mix of concern and worry "He went after Slade? Alone?" she asked with concern

"Not quite alone young Miss. He is accompanied by two highly skilled fighters and so I am sure he will be just fine" he replied trying desperately to calm the alien girl who appeared to be racked with worry

"I must go immediately. Can you please find me Richard's location?" she asked, trying to show confidence despite her stomach was doing flips with worry for Richard's safety

"Of course Miss" he answered swiftly and rushed over to one of the larger monitors "Master Dick's tracker shows that he is heading towards the north east outskirt of the city"

Before she could even reply Starfire had bolted through one of the many tunnels leading out of the cave and within moments she was airborne.

* * *

The three arrived at the top of the motel where they had tracked Deathstroke to and were monitoring the location for any sign of activity from the assassin. After about 10 minutes they noticed the assassin running along a rooftop and quickly followed in suit. After about 10 minutes of chasing the assassin stopped in front of a high wealth tower building and began to position his sniper rifle that he had mounted on the gravel roof beneath him.

"Okay, he's stopped. Dick get ready to circle him and advance on command" Batgirl turned to see if he had understood the command but found he had already made his way stealthily towards the man.

"We can stay back in the shadows a bit. Deathstroke won't be expecting three of us so we can surprise him once Dick has confronted him" Batman replied quickly

Batgirl sighed but following Batman's command, she stepped back into the shadows alongside him.

* * *

Nightwing silently made his way towards the assassin and stopped about 10 feet away, behind a ventilation shaft "Assassinations now Slade? God, you must be really desperate if it's come to this" Nightwing mocked

The assassin spun around quickly, drawing a pistol from his belt and holding it outwards as he scanned the area "show yourself, coward!" he spat in response

Nightwing did as the man asked and stepped into view of him "What's the matter Slade? Don't recognise an old friend?" he replied once again in his mocking tone

Nightwing was sure he saw a glint through the mask of his foe "Ahhh the boy wonder. You have grown since we last saw each other" he withdrew his gun and began to circle Nightwing "I knew that you would return to the nest one day Robin"

"Robin grew up Slade. I go by Nightwing now" he replied with a grin

"Of course you do. I heard about the disbandment of your little team. Without them here it seems as if it is just you and me this time" he paused smirking behind his mask "Robin"

Nightwing pulled out his Bo-staff and charged the man, he quickly managed to get a few hits into the man's stomach before the assassin began to block and parry his attacks. After a few hits he managed to strike the assassin in the stomach with a force that knocked him back and into a crouch. The assassin reached his arm back and pulled out the katana fasted to his back and charged once again.

"Why the sudden change in equipment Slade?" Nightwing asked as his Bo-staff collided with the blade "Not interested in playing fair anymore?" he added mockingly

"When we did battle you were merely a child and I have no interest in killing children" he answered taking a slash at Nightwing to which he dodged

* * *

"Shouldn't we help him?" Batgirl asked with concern "He seems pretty evenly matched with this guy"

"Yes, but we should let Dick tire him out first before we make our move" Batman replied simply

* * *

Nightwing charged him again and managed land a particularly strong blow to the side of his sword which sent it careening out of the assassin's hands. Slade responded by quickly withdrawing one of his pistols but Nightwing managed to angle the gun downwards so the shots hit the floor beneath them. "Guns? And you call me the coward, Slade" he spat in disgust before knocking the firearm out of his hand.

"Fine. I have never needed a weapon to defeat you before anyhow" Slade replied mockingly before charging and punching Nightwing forcefully in the chest sending him backwards before charging him again with another onslaught of punches.

Nightwing couldn't believe how fast Slade's punches were. It was if his sword was just holding him back because his hand to hand combat was at a much faster pace than with any weapon. For every strike he landed on Slade it seemed the assassin had already landed 5 on him. His muscles screamed at him to stop but he needed to continue, his over confidence had made him forget how strong of an adversary Slade really was and now armed with weaponry he was even more of a threat. He desperately attempted to retaliate but to no use. His hallucination from the past was a reality this time, his confidence had been shattered and replaced with fear.

Slade kicked the boy in the chest, sending him onto his back and approached him extending his other pistol out and aiming it at his head. "I grow tired of this charade Robin" but within seconds his gun was careening out his hand as a Batarang sailed into it and cast it sailing over the edge of the rooftop. He turned in confusion to the sight of the Dark Knight and Batgirl looming over him. Unnervingly this sight didn't even seem to faze him "I should have expected backup from the boy's carers" he hurtled towards the two and managed to block and parry each of their hits. Batgirl made a desperate swing at him but he dodged with ease and delivered an uppercut to her jaw knocking her to the floor.

Nightwing clambered back to his feet and made his way over to assist Bruce, he was shocked to see that even the Dark Knight himself was taking a beaten. And before he had even got over there Bruce had been tossed off of the rooftop and onto a lower level. He watched as Deathstroke charged him again and within moments another kick had been delivered into his chest and he wheezed painfully as he lay on the floor. He tried to scramble backwards but Slade had already lifted him by his throat and held him above the ground.

"I should have pulled the trigger when I had the chance. I won't make that mistake twice" He said spitefully as he reached down and picked up the pistol that lay on the ground.

A green glow rocketed into sight and Nightwing dropped limply to the floor. He looked up in a daze to see the form of Starfire clutching Slade by the throat as he struggled to breathe "I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO HARM HIM AGAIN!" she screamed in fury as the hand that gripped his throat glowed intensely.

"That's enough Starfire!" Batman commanded sternly, stepping towards her "Put Slade down"

Starfire looked down to the bruised form of her boyfriend below her and her heart broke "You would allow him to be injured to the point of death and yet you would not punish the one who did so?" she asked disbelievingly

"He will be punished Starfire" Batman replied reassuringly "He will be arrested and tried for his crimes"

Starfire looked down to the damaged Richard below her and with every fibre of her being she wanted to put an end to this once and for all, to kill the one who had tried to kill her beloved. But she knew it would not be what he would want her to. Reluctantly she lowered her hand and dropped the man to the floor. She turned to Richard and gritted her teeth angrily "You chose to not tell me of your actions and doing so almost resulted in your death" she stated bitterly

"Starfire" he wheezed "I can explain I-"

Her face was wet with tears "Do not bother" she replied cutting him off before launching into the air and back to manor as fast as she could go.

 **End of chapter 11**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

What a cliff-hanger!

I'm going on vacation tomorrow for a week so there won't be an update for a while. I will be using this time to do a lot more reading which will help me come up with ideas for oneshots and where I can take this story.

 **Next Chapter:** Starfire is unsure of whether she can forgive his actions about finding Slade. Will Richard be able to apologise?


	12. Chapter 12: Consequences

_**Last Chapter**_

 _Starfire looked down to the damaged Richard below her and with every fibre of her being she wanted to put an end to this once and for all, to kill the one who had tried to kill her beloved. But she knew it would not be what he would want her to. Reluctantly she lowered her hand and dropped the man to the floor. She turned to Richard and gritted her teeth angrily "You chose to not tell me of your actions and doing so almost resulted in your death" she stated bitterly_

" _Starfire" he wheezed "I can explain I-"_

 _Her face was wet with tears "Do not bother" she replied cutting him off before launching into the air and back to manor as fast as she could go._

* * *

 **Chapter 12 - Consequences**

Starfire couldn't remember the last time she had flown this fast before; she just kept going faster and faster in some strange pattern in the sky, desperately attempting to burn through some energy before she returned to the manor. She guessed that ripping the manor doors off of their hinges probably wouldn't be appropriate.

She felt her emotions swirl around like a hurricane inside of her and she wasn't able to focus on one emotion before another barged its way into her head. She was furious at Richard for risking himself like he did, Slade outmatched him but yet he still took the fight by himself. She was furious at Batman for allowing Richard to fight Slade mostly alone, and it wasn't until it was almost too late that he decided to step in. He was willing to allow the man who was going to kill Richard, his son, to live. If it was her choice, Slade would have been dead the second he pointed the gun. And to top off the night's events he had used the Nightwing suit that she had designed for him without even giving her a chance to see. The Nightwing she saw in the future seemed to want to work alone and she guessed it may be the same with her Nightwing.

She could feel her flight faltering as she recalled the events over in her head and so quickly bolted in the direction of the manor. She skidded along the gravel path outside the doors and quickly made her way inside. She turned looking around the corridors to find the wing of bedrooms and hastily made her way in that direction.

Alfred spotted the girl and made his way to intercept her "Miss Starfire?" He paused, his face growing concerned "Master Dick? Is he alright?"

She slowed her pace but kept her stride "I do not believe he is injured badly"

Alfred sighed in relief "And what of this Deathstroke?"

Starfire gritted her teeth in an attempt to keep the malice out of her voice "Bruce did the detaining of him"

"You are not pleased by this outcome, Miss?" Alfred asked cautiously

"If it was my decision Slade would not have survived the encounter" she replied with a sigh of annoyance

"Master Bruce's policies of arrests can be irritating at times" he replied sympathetically "If Master Dick is okay then why has he not accompanied you in your return?"

Starfire's tone was a strange mixture somewhere between anger and sadness "He left me to go after Slade and so I left him to deal with the consequences"

Alfred gave her a sad smile "I am sure Master Dick had his reasons…however I am sure that it would be best to allow him to explain himself"

* * *

Richard clambered to his feet and buried his head in his hands, how was he going to explain this to her? He knew that she wouldn't want to speak to him just yet but he needed to explain himself. He made his way over to where Bruce was helping up Barbara, "You okay Babs?" he asked with concern

Barbara rose to her feet and rubbed her jaw, "Yeah I guess, it felt like he uppercut me with a brick. How the fuck did he take on both of us at once?" she asked in annoyance looking at Bruce

"He was given some sort of strength and healing enhancement during his career as a soldier" Bruce answered

"Huh. That actually makes a lot of sense" Richard replied. He looked over to the unconscious tied up form of Slade lying on the ground. "I need to go talk to Starfire" he said making his way to the edge of the rooftop

"We need to talk about her Dick. She was going to kill him" Bruce replied expressionless

"And? He was going to kill me. If she hadn't shown up I'd be dead right now Bruce. Thanks for the backup by the way" Richard snapped in reply

"She only stopped because I told her to" Bruce replied, narrowing his eyes

"I think you forget Bruce that not everyone follows your 'no kill' policy, she only normally follows it because she knows that I do" He bit back in reply

"She could be a threat. Does she have a Kryptonite?"

"Oh give it a rest Bruce!" Barbara replied with groan

"Yeah, like I'm gonna tell you what chemical you can use to kill my girlfriend when you feel insecure about her powers" he answered with sarcastic tone "Leave her alone Bruce" he stated coldly before pushing past a glaring Bruce

"Aren't you injured?" Barbara asked in concern

"Alfred can patch me up later. I've got a pissed off Tamaranean to worry about first" he replied with a sad sigh

* * *

Richard made his way quickly through the manor towards the bedrooms. He stopped and knocked at the door to Starfire's room "Star?" He heard a few muffled sniffles from behind the door.

"Go away Nightwing. I am not in the mood to do the speaking to you right now" she answered. He could tell from her voice that she had been crying

He cringed at the lack of his name being used "I'm really sorry Star. I know you're upset but I was trying to protect you" he replied softly

"By getting yourself killed?" She bit back "Had I not arrived then, Slade would have killed you"

He sighed deeply "I know Star. I underestimated him; I thought we could take him easily"

"And how many more 'underestimations' will it be before you are killed?" He could hear the sadness in her reply

"Please don't think like that Star. Let me in and then I can explain myself properly" He asked sadly

"I do not wish to speak to Nightwing" she replied bitterly, "We may speak tomorrow when you are Richard again"

"Please Star" he paused awaiting a response but after a while he walked sadly into his room and flung himself on his bed. The pain from his throbbing bruises and cuts were completely forgotten as his mind racked over how to make it up to her.

 **End of chapter 12**

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Hope you guys enjoyed the long awaited chapter 12! It's a little bit short but that's because it will be continued in chapter 13.

I came up with a few good ideas for stories whilst I was away, one was entitled " **Firsts** " which would be a collection of one-shots about Starfire's first experiences with things, like seeing her first snow or her thoughts on her first real friends. If you are interested in this idea then let me know, and if you would like to see a specific first then send me a suggestion.

 **Next Chapter: "Explanations** " – Dick's got a whole lot of explaining to do


	13. Chapter 13: Explanations

_**Last Chapter**_

" _Please don't think like that Star. Let me in and then I can explain myself properly" He asked sadly_

" _I do not wish to speak to Nightwing" she replied bitterly, "We may speak tomorrow when you are_

 _Richard again"_

" _Please Star" he paused awaiting a response but after a while he walked sadly into his room and flung himself on his bed. The pain from his throbbing bruises and cuts were completely forgotten as his mind racked over how to make it up to her._

* * *

 **Chapter 13: Explanations**

Richard had slept very little that night, he couldn't focus on anything other than how upset Starfire was and what he could possibly do to fix this. He had already came up with the worst case scenarios in his head, would she leave Gotham? Or even worse, would she leave him? He shook his head desperately clearing his mind of that idea. "Every couple has arguments" he finally reasoned with himself as he got dressed and made his way out into the corridor. He wandered down the hallways checking each of the usual rooms Starfire would be in until he heard voices coming from the kitchen.

* * *

Starfire had also found herself little luck at entering the lands of counting sheep that night. She knew she was mad at Richard but she still felt bad for her actions the night before, she left without even checking to make sure Richard was okay and in her frustration she didn't even give him chance to explain. She knew that her anger was the only thing stopping her from breaking down at the thought of losing her boyfriend.

She made her way out of her room and down into the kitchen where she instantly spotted Alfred donned in his signature pink apron. "Greetings Alfred" she said with a smile

"Good morning Miss Starfire" Alfred replied with a smile, placing a plate of food down onto the small table for Starfire to eat. "I presume you are still yet to speak with Master Dick?"

"Yes, I believe I was wrong in not allowing him to explain, however I was emotionally unbalanced" she answered with a sad smile

"As I said last night, I am sure Master Dick has his reasons for his actions last night" he paused giving her a reassuring smile "He was very eager to speak to you when he arrived last night, he received only basic medical attention before he was running off"

Starfire cringed at the thought of how injured he must have been when she spoke to him, "How damaged was he?" she asked with a worried frown

"Fortunately he did not receive any long term damage, mostly cuts and bruises. The most severe injury was a fractured rib however that should heal rather quickly" he replied with a comforting smile

She turned at the sound of footsteps and noticed the sad looking face of Richard at the doorway to the kitchen, he gave her a sad frown before heading over to the refrigerator. Alfred noticed his entrance and smiled at Starfire before turning and leaving the kitchen. Richard made his way over to the table and sat at the seat opposite Starfire.

There was a painfully long silence as the two of them tried desperately to come up with a conversation starter. Starfire decided to break the silence at last "I take it that Slade has been captured?"

"Yeah, Bruce took him to Arkham last night" He reached across the table and took her hand gently "It was a good thing you showed up, he managed to take on me, Babs and Bruce all at the same time"

Starfire was unsure whether to release his hand or grip it tighter, as she spoke she found herself doing the latter "If I had not arrived when I did then you would be dead" she replied with an emotionless tone

Richard visible cringed "Yeah, I would be" he said sadly

Starfire frowned, she needed answers but she feared what they may be "Why did you not request my assistance? You know from previous battles that Slade is a formidable opponent"

Richard sighed heavily "I didn't want to risk you getting hurt" he frowned looking up at her "Slade was bad when he just used his fists but now he uses firearms…..I just couldn't risk you getting hurt, he would have targeted you straight away if you were there….I know you're strong, but you can't stop bullets and if he hurt you I'd never forgive myself" he said sadly

Starfire sighed in return "So you believe that you getting injured would be a better outcome?"

"If it stopped you from getting hurt, then yeah, it would be"

"I fear you are returning to how you were before….you used to the locking yourself in your office and you would ignore us as you to figure out Slade's plans" she paused, her eyes filling with tears "You have been doing the ignoring of me for the past week now"

"Star…I-"

"You have not made any effort to speak to me other than a simple greeting, the only time we have got to talk was at dinner and then you would not return to your room at night" she cut him off, "I have missed sharing the bed dreadfully"

"I have as well" he replied solemnly "I'm so sorry Star… I'm not a very good boyfriend. I don't want to be like this….but it's just who I am" he paused again smiling sadly at her "I do it to keep the people I love safe, but as well as keeping you safe it just pushes you away"

She nodded in return with a small smile, "I am hurt that you wore the Nightwing suit and I did not get to accompany you"

"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that. I didn't want to fight him as Robin, I don't want that psychopath targeting Jason" he answered with a concerned tone

She once again nodded in reply, "I want you to understand Richard that I am not a delicate floral arrangement that would wilt and die at the slightest hit. I can sustain far more damage than you can and so I will not allow yourself to injure yourself in trying to 'rescue' me" she gripped his hand tighter "The Titans may be disbanded but you and I are still a team. Can you promise to treat me as part of your team?"

Richard smiled broadly "Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran, I give you my word" he replied with a small mock bow to which Starfire giggled

Bruce arrived in the kitchen and seemed to glare briefly at Starfire. "Is Bruce the upset with me?" Starfire asked in a whispered tone

Richard glared back at Bruce "He thinks because you were able to capture Slade single-handedly that you are some huge threat that he needs to analyse"

"Oh, he deems me as threat to him?" Starfire replied sadly

"Bruce is a paranoid xenophobe" he replied with a roll of his eyes "I thought working with aliens on a regular basis would change him but he still seems to want to take everything apart and experiment on it to figure out how to beat it" He finished with a exasperated sigh.

Richard shifted around to Starfire's side and Bruce took a seat at the table opposite them "Good morning" Bruce greeted with a bland tone. "Dick, I was scanning Deathstroke's weaponry and I picked up something really odd"

Richard raised his eyebrow "What?"

"The ammunition in his pistols were lined with Metallic Chromium, I haven't been able to work out the purpose of using it" Bruce explained

Starfire gasped and Richard's face turned a sheet white "Metallic Chromium is a common allergy to Tamaraneans" she explained with a very nervous and concerned tone

"So Slade expected to fight you Star" Richard replied with the same nervous tone "How would he have known you were here?" he paused thinking quickly "The only time we have been out is when we went to the wine festiv-" he paused again turning a sickly colour "He knows who I am"

"That's impossible" Bruce stated firmly "if he knew he would have leaked that kind of information"

"Slade loved to mess with us back in Jump, especially me. I guess he's keeping this information to himself. So he worked out my identity and then must have recognized Star as well" he elaborated in a panicking tone

"Well he's in Arkham now so he shouldn't be an issue" Bruce replied with an edge of concern

"Let's hope he stays in there then…." Richard replied with a frown

 **End of chapter 13**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

Been having some drastic PC issues at the moment which has stopped me from being able to write most of the time. At the moment I am stuck only being able to use 1 application at a time because otherwise it will cause bluescreens. This is exactly the reason all of my stories are stored and edited through dropbox, so I never need to worry about losing them.

Just for anyone wondering why Batgirl got taken down first in the Deathstroke fight, it wasn't because she was a girl or anything stupid shit like that. Nightwing is a trained acrobat that can dodge almost any hit, Batman is trained in pretty much every single form of martial arts. Batgirl is quite a lot less trained than the other two because she learned her skills second hand from Batman and so she uses a lesser form of his martial arts. Also from the animated stuff it shows she is more full-offense like Batman and so to a trained combatant like Slade, dodging her attacks wouldn't be too difficult. I'm sure most of you understood this already but I'm sure some people thought I was being sexist.

Slade knows Nightwing's identity in the comics so I decided to include that fact here, Slade is a genius so it's not exactly hard to put 2 and 2 together in the first place xD

Gonna take a little break from "Moving Forward" and I'll work on some more one-shots in the meantime. Here are some of my current ideas:

\- A request for the return of the nega/dark characters that are seen in "The End"

\- Starfire's perspective on my story "Holding Back"

\- "Firsts" (Starfire's first experiences of things on earth) is still a thing that I am gradually coming up with ideas for so let me know any suggestions you have for it

\- A request for a Starfire+jealousy story, not entirely sure of a plot for this but I'll come up with some ideas

 **Next Chapter:** Chapter 14 coming soon


	14. Chapter 14: All Hallows' Eve

**_Last Chapter:_**

 _"So Slade expected to fight you Star" Richard replied with the same nervous tone "How would he have known you were here?" he paused thinking quickly "The only time we have been out is when we went to the wine festiv-" he paused again turning a sickly colour "He knows who I am"_

 _"That's impossible" Bruce stated firmly "if he knew he would have leaked that kind of information"_

 _"Slade loved to mess with us back in Jump, especially me. I guess he's keeping this information to himself. So he worked out my identity and then must have recognized Star as well" he elaborated in a panicking tone_

 _"Well he's in Arkham now so he shouldn't be an issue" Bruce replied with an edge of concern_

 _"Let's hope he stays in there then…." Richard replied with a frown_

* * *

 **Chapter 14 – All Hallows' Eve**

The summer months had ended and it was well and truly into Fall as Halloween rolled around the corner. Halloween had always been a favourite tradition of Starfire, ever she had arrived on Earth. She loved how enthusiastic people were to join in with the tradition and that for a day in the year people could dress up and enjoy themselves. She had been eagerly anticipating the day for the past month and had entailed Richard with countless pieces of information and traditions about the holiday. Richard, of course knew all of these facts already, but he didn't have the heart to put an end to the adorable jittering's of his over enthusiastic girlfriend. Her exuberance over the festivities had somehow even managed to convince Bruce into hosting a Halloween party at the manor and to Starfire's ever increasing joy, the other Titans had decided they would come along.

Richard had promised her that they would celebrate Halloween properly this year. Every other year the Titans had put up some decorations but never actually got to go out because funnily enough Halloween night was primetime for petty crooks trying to rob some stores or mug people on the streets. This year Starfire would be able to enjoy herself and actually get to wear a costume for once, the idea of her costume sprung to mind some rather adult themed images of what her choices could be. It didn't help that she was actually considering some of these outfits herself and when she proposed the idea of going as Ariel from 'The Little Mermaid' it took him a while to close his hanging jaw. He had decided whilst he would love to see her as Ariel, he didn't really enjoy the idea of other people getting to see her as it as well. In the end the two had come to an agreement over snorting laughter that they would dress as Beast Boy and Raven this year and couldn't wait to see their reactions.

In Starfire's excitement she had decided to fly all the way back to jump city at night in order to retrieve the costumes from the tower itself to make sure they were authentic. When she had returned gasping for breath but grinning madly as she held up the costumes Richard could barely stand as he laughed. Alfred had adjusted the costumes slightly to match the height difference compared to the original owners but after some slight modifications the outfits were ready for when the night of October 31st fell upon them. Richard had bought some cheap hairspray from a costume shop and sprayed his entire hair a toxic shade of green before donning his outfit and waiting patiently for Starfire to finish getting changed. He was torn between staring and bursting out laughing when Starfire eventually came out wearing Raven's signature leotard and blue cloak, she had even dyed her hair a dark shade of purple to match her friend's look.

She stared at her boyfriend's appearance "Oh X'hal Richard, I did not even believe there could be such a shade of green as that" she wheezed out between fits of giggles. She collected herself, "How do I look?" she asked as she did a twirl so he could see the rotation of the outfit.

"You look umm…" he paused as he racked his brain with that to say, he wasn't sure he liked that he found her this attractive whilst she was dressed in Raven's uniform. He noted that they would have to dress up more often, "great" he finally answered, with a smile.

"That is excellent news!" she replied with a smile, they both walked over to a large mirror on the wall on one side of the corridor and stood facing it, giggling at their appearances. A pasty guy with badly spray-painted green hair wearing a weird purple and black uniform, and a 6ft tall alien with purple dyed hair wearing a leotard and a cloak. They made their way down into the foyer and awaited the arrival of the hundreds of guests who would all be flocking to the manor.

Starfire smiled at the variety of costumes that some of the guests were wearing, most wore more traditional Halloween costumes like vampires and zombies but she spotted quite a few people representing their favourite heroes, someone had made a bright red Flash suit whilst another was dressed as Green Arrow. She prodded Richard and gestured over to the two men and he snorted when he noticed that Oliver Queen himself, was chatting with Bruce and seemed to be oblivious to the cosplayer.

After a while Starfire's ears picked up at the sound of chatting coming from the entrance, she turned her head and noticed 3 teenagers discussing something and looking around as if trying to search for something. She prodded Richard and he turned to look, one teen was tall with dark skin whom he instantly recognised as Cyborg who was wearing a knock off Batman costume that seemed to be at least a size or 2 too small for him. Raven's normal purple hair had been replaced with a dark brown shade and she wore a fluffy white Rabbit suit whilst she looked immensely displeased.

Even Raven's bunny suit didn't startle Richard as much as the sight of Beast Boy, his normal green skin had been hologrammed to a pale white and his green hair was now a blonde tone. He wore a cheap version of the Robin costume that looked like it had been designed by a toddler. Richard had to cover his mouth with his hand to stop the hysterical laughter escaping as he stared in awe at how bizarre Beast Boy looked. After a moment he smirked, rose to his feet, offered Starfire his hand and they made their way over to the confused trio.

"Hi guys" Richard greeted with a smirk

Cyborg turned to look at the greeter but initially looked away before his brain connected who he was looking at "Rob?" he asked in cautious whisper

"Dick" Richard corrected

Beast Boy grinned widely "Dude we both had the same idea"

Raven smiled at him but then her eyebrows raised as she noticed the girl stood next to him "Umm?..."

"Do you not recognise me friend Raven?" Starfire replied with a giggle

"Dude! Star, you look like Raven!"

"Yes, that was my goal" she paused, her face lighting up "Oh, I have done the missing of you all so much, friends!" she cried as she squeezed the life out of each of them

"Congrats by the way you two" Raven added with a smile

Richard and Starfire gave each other confused glances and looked back at Raven. Who then gestured down to their hands which had subconsciously re-linked once more "Oh yes of course! We have been performing the courtship ritual for over 2 months now" she replied with a smile.

"Yeah, most people just say 'dating', Star" Cyborg replied with a smirk

Richard turned his attention Raven in her bunny suit and smirked wickedly "So Rae, I didn't realise you were a fan of bunnies"

Starfire giggled whilst Raven's face twisted into a scowl "I lost a bet to Bat-bitch and boy blunder over there" she said pointing at the crude costumes of Cyborg and Beast Boy.

"What was the bet?" Richard asked

"The bet was that we wouldn't be able to find Batman and Robin costumes before the party, so we've made her dress as a bunny because she lost" Cyborg explained with hearty laugh as Raven glared at him.

Richard chuckled "Okay guys remember, only use our normal names. So I'm Dick and Star is Kori"

"Trust me man, we already knew you were a dick" Cyborg chuckled as he nudged Beast Boy who joined in.

"Dick, Kori! You guys look amazing" A feminine voice shouted as she rushed over to the group

Starfire turned and smiled brightly at the figure "Greetings Babs!" her face contorted in confusion as she attempted to work out what the costume was.

Babs smiled at the confused expression on Starfire's face "I came as Starfire" she explained as she gestured to her purple halter top and skirt.

Starfire's face lit up at the realisation and she lifted up Babs in a squeezing hug "Thank you friend!"

"I might look like Starfire….but…don't have…alien strength" Babs wheezed. Starfire released her immediately and stood back with a sheepish smile. "So who are your friends?" she asked after she re-collected herself.

Richard smirked "The other Titans"

Babs screwed up her face in confusion "But I thought Beast Boy was green? Why is he white with blonde hair? And why is Cyborg missing his robotic parts?"

"Hologram rings" Richard explained

"Oh! It's so cool to meet you guys!"

"Feelings mutual" Cyborg said with a smirk

Richard was still in some kind of shellshock from Babs' costume "Babs, why are you dressed as my girlfriend?"

Babs smirked wickedly "Oh well I thought, who else is a redhead that could kick Dick's ass in a fight"

"I would never wish to do battle with Richard!" Starfire gasped

"Richard?" Beast Boy and Raven questioned

"Yeah, I let Kori call me Richard" he explained "and Kori, don't worry. Babs just meant that you're strong"

"So what does this place have to drink?" Cyborg asked as he scanned the room for a bar

"You name it, Bruce will have it somewhere. Since we're in costume no one will question us about our age so you can drink what you want"

"Awesome!" Beast Boy cried as he dragged Raven by the arm behind him on his way to the bar "There's so many drinks you need to try Rae!" Raven groaned but gave in and followed Beast Boy to the bar whilst the other snickered at the pair.

* * *

A few hours had passed and the party had begun to empty out, many people had already left. Starfire and Richard had mostly been sat at the bar watching as a drunk Beast Boy attempted to flirt with Raven, who appeared to be enjoying his attempts. Starfire hoped that they would not wait as long as she and Richard did to reveal their feelings. Richard looked across the bar and saw that Cyborg had spent most of his time chatting with Babs who seemed to be making no attempt to end their conversation.

Starfire was intrigued by the multi-coloured rainbow of drinks that Beast Boy was consuming and decided that she wished to partake in the drink known as the 'margarita' which he had already drank a few of. Richard was enthralled watching her sample each of the drinks and found it hilarious as she tried to describe what the drink tasted like. It was either that she was a light-weight or that Tamaraneans have a different alcohol tolerance, but after 2 or 3 margaritas Starfire was already beginning to stumble over her words along with frequent hiccupping.

"Are you having fun Kori?" Richard asked with a smirk as he watched her stare into space

"Oh…yes I am very much having the fun" as if speaking suddenly reminded her of something she spun around on her bar stool and faced the server "I wish to partake in the bomb of Jager"

"You sure you want a Jager Bomb, Kori?" Richard asked with slight concern

"Oh very well…" she sighed sadly "2 Jager of the bombs!" she repeated with a smile. She stared with intent as the server poured out the fluid mixture into 2 glasses.

Richard went to take one of the glasses but before his hand even reached the glass, Starfire had already reached forwards and downed both of them. He chuckled as she hiccupped again and he rubbed her back soothingly. "How's the 'Bomb of Jager'?" he asked with a smirk

"A strange concoction but it was most pleasant" she replied with a goofy looking smile

"I think you're drunk, gorgeous"

"I am not! How dare you do the saying of…" she said with mock appal but lost her train of thought before she could finish her sentence

Richard chuckled and patted her on the back and turned his attention over to Beast Boy and Raven who both appeared to be as drunk as each other by this point. "You okay guys?"

Raven turned around on her bar stool and gave a goofy grin and waved her hand at him "Us?...yeah we're fine"

"Yeah you're the one who's drunk dude" Beast Boy added

"I never said you were drunk" Richard explained with a grin

"Oh…well, were not…so go away other me, so I can get back to talking to the pretty lady" he slurred out

Raven gave him a dreamy smile "You're pretty as well Gar" and within what seemed like split seconds the drunken pair were kissing each other.

"Raven and the Beast Boy are doing the making out!" Starfire exclaimed in her slurred voice whilst she prodded Richard

Richard chuckled at the state of his friends "Yeah, she's not going to be happy when she finds this out tomorrow" he looked over to his barely functioning girlfriend "Come on beautiful, let's get you up to bed"

Starfire smirked playfully "The bedroom is indeed a good choice" she said trying to put on an alluring voice despite the fact that she was slurring her words

He chuckled "Not like that Star. I mean to sleep"

"You are the spoil of sports" she said with a huff

He chuckled broadly as they headed down the corridor and into their room.

 **End of chapter 14**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

Thank you for reading! I'm really sorry it's took me over a month to update this, I've been busy with my other stories and also university work. It will definitely not take me as long to post the next chapter.

I'm thinking of bringing this story to a close pretty soon so let me know if you would like anything specific in the story before it finishes.

Have a great Halloween everyone and if you are over 18 like myself, don't drink too much!

 **Next Chapter:** Aftermath of the party


	15. Chapter 15: The Morning After The Night

_**Last Chapter:**_

 _Raven gave him a dreamy smile "You're pretty as well Gar" and within what seemed like split seconds the drunken pair were kissing each other._

" _Raven and the Beast Boy are doing the making out!" Starfire exclaimed in her slurred voice whilst she prodded Richard_

 _Richard chuckled at the state of his friends "Yeah, she's not going to be happy when she finds this out tomorrow" he looked over to his barely functioning girlfriend "Come on beautiful, let's get you up to bed"_

 _Starfire smirked playfully "The bedroom is indeed a good choice" she said trying to put on an alluring voice despite her slurring her words_

 _He chuckled "Not like that Kori. I mean to sleep"_

" _You are the spoil of sports" she said with a huff_

 _He chuckled broadly as they headed down the corridor and to the sleeping quarters._

* * *

 **Chapter 15 – The Morning After The Night Before**

The rays of light pierced through the large glass window and enveloped the room in a morning glow. Starfire opened her eyes groggily and groaned as the small ray of light felt like it was burning a hole in her retina. She lifted her head up off the pillow, to which she was face down on and groaned even louder as she felt like Cinderblock had been using her head as a punching bag.

Richard rolled over and yawned "Morning, gorgeous. How do you feel?" He received a dagger glare in response and he smirked "that bad huh?"

Starfire sighed and shuffled herself up so she could rest her head on his shoulder "I apologise"

Richard smiled warmly "That's alright. What you're feeling right now is a 'hangover', Star" Starfire gave him a confused look in response "It's what happens when you drink a lot of alcohol"

"X'hal" she sighed, "how much did I drink?"

He smirked "Let's see, 3 margaritas, 2 tequilas and 4 'bombs of the jager'" he listed, counting them on his fingers "To sum it up. You drank a lot"

She looked at him apologetically "I'm sorry Richard"

He chuckled "Don't be, Star. Everyone has too much to drink at some point" he placed his arm under her shoulders "I remember the first time I got drunk. I was 13 and I stumbled across one of Bruce's cabinets and I saw loads of fancy glass bottles inside. Being a 13 year old with not much outside contact, I had no idea what the drinks were. A bottle of coconut rum caught my eye and I knew that I liked coconut so surely I must like this stuff" Starfire chuckled, and he smirked before continuing "next thing I know I've drank half the bottle and I have no clue where I am. Alfred told me he found me with my Robin suit on inside out, attempting to slide down the railing of the staircase. He promised me never to drink Bruce's alcohol again and in exchange he wouldn't tell Bruce about the ordeal."

Starfire was struggling to breathe as she hiccupped amongst her fits of giggles "I do hope I was not as embarrassing as you were"

"No, you were just finding it difficult to create coherent speech and I could barely understand most of the things you were saying. Then when I brought you up to bed you tried to seduce me despite the fact you could barely stand" He replied, chuckling

"Did my attempts at the 'art of seduction' work?" she asked with a smirk

"Nope. You think I'm gonna let a drunk girl with super strength try to take my clothes off? I'm pretty sure that's the reason Bruce is coincidentally wearing a new suit after every time Wonder Woman stops by for a 'meeting'" he explained with a laugh

Starfire giggled and smiled as she pictured Bruce trying to desperately stitch one of his ruined suits back together before anyone saw him. "I do not remember you drinking much?"

"I'm not a big drinker, I thought it was best if I stayed sober so I could keep an eye on you, Beast Boy and…Holy shit!"

Starfire raised an eyebrow "Richard?"

His smile grew into a wicked grin "I just remembered what happened last night. Guess who got hammered and ended up making out?"

Starfire pondered for a moment "Cyborg?" she tapped her finger to her chin and then stopped as her eyes widened "Beast Boy and Raven!"

"Yup" Richard replied with a smirk, "the others stayed over last night since they didn't want to find a hotel at 3am. Raven is going to blow a fuse once she hears what happened"

Starfire's face lit up "Yes, what joyous circumstances! We must tell them what happened"

* * *

After dressing in their normal attire they descended the large staircase "I am overjoyed that they have revealed their feelings for each other!"

"How are you so upbeat? You looked like you wanted to murder me just for speaking earlier" Richard rubbed the back of his neck "Also I'm not sure if them making out when they were drunk, really counts Star. Also"

"I believe my Tamaranean physiology means that this 'hangover' has reduced effects on me and so I have already recovered. And regardless, their actions prove that they do, 'the liking' of each other" She replied with an giddy smile

"I guess so. But don't get too excited just yet Star. I want to see what they can remember firstly, so don't bring it up until I tell you"

They walked into the large dining room and spotted the two Titans sat on opposite sides of the table staring into cups of coffee as Alfred supplied them with pain relief medication. He turned and smiled at the two "Good morning Master Dick and Miss Starfire!" the seated pair groaned loudly and hushed him "My apologies" he replied with a sheepish smile.

Richard smirked as he sat down in the seat next to Beast Boy and Starfire sat next to Raven, "So…did you guys have fun last night?"

The two looked up at him and locked wide eyes with each other before returning their view down to their coffee mugs "It was fine" they both mumbled

"Just fine?" Richard probed with an even bigger smirk

Beast Boy looked around the room nervously "I'm gonna go…umm…get some juice" he finished with a nervous chuckle

Richard stared at Raven until she looked up and caught his gaze to which she instantly looked away "You're not telling me something Raven? What happened?"

"Nothing!" she retorted

"Bullshit nothing, Raven. I've never seen you this nervous something must have happened"

She looked up nervously and her eyes scanned the stupidly goofy smile of Starfire who looked like she wanted to burst with excitement, until her sight landed on the questioning glance of Richard again

"Fine...I had this really weird dream that Beast Boy and I…we…-"

"Kissed" Starfire blurted out

Raven's face took on a look of shock and then horror and dread "How did you?..."

"Because it wasn't a dream" Richard replied smugly

Raven's usual grey complexion turned ghostly white "How?...why?...when?" she stammered

"You two got 'the hammered' and did 'the kissing'" Starfire explained, beaming

Raven sighed loudly and slammed her fists against the table "Damnit! That is not how I wanted it to happen!" her eyes grew wide and she covered her mouth after realising her words

Starfire was literally bouncing in her seat at the moment and Richard was on the verge of laughing so hard that his lungs would collapse.

Beast Boy returned shakily holding his glass of orange juice "What's all the yelling about?"

Starfire flew out of her seat and lifted the boy up in a tight hug "You and Raven did the making out!"

Beast Boy dropped his glass to the floor and stared at Raven in horror "But…but…but…that was just a dream"

Richard leaned back on his chair and lifted his feet up onto the table "Nope, totally happened. I saw it with my own two eyes, you and Raven eating each other's faces" he gave in and let the wall collapse as he burst out laughing "You two should see your faces"

Raven and Beast Boy exchanged nervous glances at each other as they both turned their crimson stained faces back down towards their coffee.

The door to the dining room creaked open and Cyborg stepped in with a bright smile on his face "Morning guys"

"Morning Cy" Beast Boy replied, his voice cracking as he spoke

"Woah, have too much to drink last night, BB?"

"That's not the only thing he had too much of last night" Richard replied through a fake cough

"Oh my god! Does everyone need to know?" Raven shouted but then clutched her forehead due to her own volume

Cyborg looked puzzled for a moment but then a sly smirk spread across his face "I knew you two were getting a little bit too friendly last night! What happened?"

"They did the making out!" Starfire replied, still riding out the wave of excitement

Cyborg smirked "Always knew you two had a thing for each other. No denying it now"

The door creaked once again and a smaller redhead darted in "I'm off now guys! Last night was great" Babs said with a smile, she turned to Cyborg and kissed him on the cheek "call me sometime, Victor" she waved to everyone before walking back out of the room.

The others stared in shock "What? So grass-stain and goth-girl can eat each other's faces, but I can't get some myself?" he walked over to the table "Bagels!" he cried with excitement as he began to stuff them into his gaping mouth.

Whilst the others were still questioning what just happened, Starfire's excitement returned "And so the plot has done the thickening!" she cried happily.

 **End of chapter 15**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

Really hope you enjoyed this chapter, I had a lot of fun writing it.

I have wrote another one-shot which involves Red X but it is really pointless and to be brutally honest it was wrote as essentially a 'fuck you' to the StarX pairing. It is not poor quality as I would never even consider something posting something that was not up to a certain standard, so it is still an okay story. If you would be interested in reading it then let me know via review or PM and if a couple of people ask for it then I will post it.

Couple more chapters before we reach the end of this story, I have a relatively clear idea of how I want to end but I have come to a decision that I would like your opinions for. Would you prefer a darker/angst filled ending that may or may not include elements such as the Lazarus Pit. Or would you prefer a happier and more chilled out end? The angst one would still end relatively happy as you can probably guess from all of my other stories but it might be more interesting than a happy focused ending.

Let me know what you think on the choice ending. There is still 2-3 more filler chapters before I reach the finale so please let me know if you want to see something specific before we reach the end.

Leave a review if you enjoyed the story!

 **Next Chapter:** Reader idea, leave your ideas in a review and I will take note of what you want to see!


	16. Chapter 16: The Darkness

_**Last Chapter:**_

" _They did the making out!" Starfire replied, still riding out the wave of excitement_

 _Cyborg smirked "Always knew you two had a thing for each other. No denying it now"_

 _The door creaked once again and a smaller redhead darted in "I'm off now guys! Last night was great" Babs said with a smile, she turned to Cyborg and kissed him on the cheek "call me sometime, Victor" she waved to everyone before walking back out of the room._

 _The others stared in shock "What? So grass-stain and goth-girl can eat each other's faces, but I can't get some myself?" he walked over to the table "Bagels!" he cried with excitement as he began to stuff them into his gaping mouth._

 _Whilst the others were still questioning what just happened, Starfire's excitement returned "And so the plot has done the thickening!" she cried happily._

* * *

 **Chapter 16 – The Darkness**

 _The darkness, the cold, the loneliness. It all surrounded him, watching as the paranoid and demented leader challenged his team over non-existent issues. Then the pain, it came in waves. Strikes to the jaw, to the stomach, sending him hurtling to the ground. Watching as his team denied him what his own two eyes had witnessed. Older now but still losing the same battle, the same hits being delivered to him, just as before. The click of the firearm cocking as he prepared for the end. The shimmer of hope as he watched his love saving him. The world twisting and warping to new extremes as he watched the new scene unfold. The ultimate pain to his heart as he is used as bait for his beloved, watching her land on the roof, the plea of mercy before she thuds to the floor. The poison lined bullets penetrating her skin, snuffing out the burning supernova that is her light. The desperate question of 'why?' before a request to be dealt the same fate. The darkness, the despair, the cold, the emptiness, the loneliness …_

Starfire bolted up in bed at the strangled sobbing cry coming from next to her. She turned quickly and stared worriedly at the hunched over, rocking form of her beloved. He was sobbing violently and the sheet beneath him was drenched with tears as he continued to cry. She stared mortified at him for a moment before reaching out gently and placing her hand on his arm "Richard?"

He spun around quickly to look at Starfire, the deep look of misery clearly visible on his face. He threw his arms around her quickly and buried his face into her shoulder as he continued to sob. She could feel that he was rubbing his cheek against hers as he let out sorrowful whimpering sounds. The intense pain that he was clearly feeling made her want to cry as well and she hugged him tighter. She began to return his actions gently, "my love, what is wrong?" she asked as softly as she could.

"I-I thought I had lost you" he answered in almost a whispered voice

She continued to nuzzle his cheek softly "You have not lost me, Richard. I am not going anywhere"

"He…took you from me…" he replied miserably

Starfire gave him a comforting smile and kissed him gently "No one will take me from you, my love"

Richard paused for a moment before his look of grief appeared to morph into despair "He won't go away"

It didn't take a genius to work out who was giving him such a nightmare, "He is gone, Richard"

"No…even in a fucking prison cell he still finds a way to haunt me. He'll never be gone" he paused and looked at her miserably again "it won't ever be over until one of us is dead" panic seemed to ensue and he stood up from the bed and paced around the room, "he was planning to kill you, just so he could hurt me"

"I made a promise that I intend to keep. I will not allow him to harm you, Richard" she replied firmly. She gave him a soft, sad smile "Please return to bed my love"

He returned the soft smile and climbed back onto the bed so that he curled into her side, "I love you so much, Star". He hooked one arm underneath her and the other over of her stomach and interlocked them, before resting his head on her chest.

She purred softly as she wrapped her own arms around her beloved "Words cannot even describe how much I love you, Richard" she replied sweetly.

* * *

Alarm bells blared out through the concrete fort, "Prisoner A11…boring…A12…mundane…A13…only 3 counts of murder? These are barely even criminals!" The pale man scoffed as he made his way past the cell doors, "do you see any prime candidates, Harley?"

The overly-exuberant jester grinned widely and gestured over to where she was stood "This guy looks pretty tough. 23 counts of murder"

"Ooooh" the clown replied with grin "does our candidate have a name?"

"Yeah. Slade Wilson, uses 'Deathstroke' as his alias. Says in the files that he is an assassin" the woman replied

"Ah, we have ourselves a bullseye, and I do love one with a good nickname. Turn the microphone on Harley so we may speak to this fine gentleman" He strolled over the control panel and grabbed hold of the microphone like an announcer. "Mr Wilson, we are having a very exclusive sale, buy now and you will receive a free ticket out of this joint. All you need to do is agree to our terms and conditions"

The grey haired assassin stared at the clown "And what would those be?"

The clown smiled widely "That you work for me"

Slade scoffed "I don't work with crazy"

The clown frowned "I wouldn't rule yourself out of that category, Wilson. You're locked up in this place too" he paused for a moment skimming through the assassin's record before smiling wickedly "Plus, I have a job I'm sure you'll enjoy"

"I doubt that" the older man replied

"I require...assistance in dealing with the matter of a pesky bird and a troublesome bird. It says here you have previous experience with the little bird"

Slade's attention was drawn and he looked up to the clown "What is your request?"

"Batsy alone was hard enough to handle but now that the bird brat is back, it makes my plans even more challenging. I've grown tired of fighting a sidekick. Since you have your own vendetta against the kid I want you to deal with him, Batman needs to learn why you shouldn't work with kids. Am I clear?" The clown grinned widely.

The assassin smirked at the manic clown as he was released from his containment. "Crystal"

 **End of chapter 16**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

This is just a short filler chapter leading up to the events of the next few chapters that are left to come. I mean who didn't see Deathstroke getting out of Arkham, it can barely hold the penguin let alone an assassin.

The opening paragraph is designed to be cryptic, nightmares and dreams in general are not simple and are complex and cryptic. It is essentially recalling the events of the past with slade, the first 3 lines are referencing Haunted. 4 - 6 is referencing the fight on the roof in chapter 11. And the rest is how the brain can twist events to show us false truths, the nightmare changed the events of chapter 11 to torment him by showing him Starfire dying instead. The realisation of the chromium bullets in chapter 12 was not forgotten, it was just pushed aside and finally the fear built up into the form of a night terror. Hope that makes it clear.

If you would like to see anything in the story before it finishes then feel free to leave a review/PM about the idea.

Also I have a Tumblr account now (same as my username on here), I wont post very much on it but feel free to use it to send me messages/asks as I'll get a notification through my email.


	17. Chapter 17: Crossroads

_**Last Chapter**_

 _Slade scoffed "I don't work with crazy"_

 _The clown frowned "I wouldn't rule yourself out of that category, Wilson. You're locked up in this place too" he paused for a moment skimming through the assassin's record before smiling wickedly "I have a job I'm sure you would find a lot of pleasure in"_

 _"And what would that be?" The older man replied with slight curiosity_

 _"You see...Batsy alone was hard enough for me to handle but now that his bird brat is back, it makes my plans even more challenging. I've grown tired of fighting a sidekick. Since you have your own vendetta against the kid, I want you to deal with him. Batman needs to learn why you shouldn't work with children. Am I clear?" The clown grinned widely._

 _The assassin smirked at the manic clown as he was released from his containment. "Crystal"_

* * *

 **Chapter 17 – Crossroads**

Bruce's fingers flew across the keyboard for the computer as he pulled up reports on the asylum on the different monitors.

Richard and Starfire lazily treaded down the stairs of the cave and over towards Bruce. "What's up?"

"Breakout at Arkham" replied Bruce, already donned in his suit.

Richard turned and looked at Starfire who looked barely awake. He should be serious right now but he couldn't resist a smile as he looked at how adorable his girlfriend looked in her sleepy state. "I do wish criminals would choose more sociable hours to perform their crimes in" she said with a yawn.

Richard smirked "No arguments there"

TTTTTTT

The somewhat jovial mood died quickly as they arrived at the scene. The commissioner stood at the entrance-way as he relayed the details of the breakout. Nightwing, Batman and Batgirl all stood around the commissioner trying to pick up on any details they could decipher from the limited information Gordon was telling them. Starfire and Jason who was now wearing the Robin suit stood a little further back than the others.

"What triggered the alarms initially?" Batman asked

"Somehow Quinn got out of her cell then broke her lunatic of a boyfriend out" Gordon replied

"Harley got herself out? How the hell did she do that?" Batgirl asked incredulously

Gordon gave a shrug "Cameras show that for some reason a guard went into her cell and the next minute she is out and heading down the corridor"

Nightwing rolled his eyes "Okay and then she went straight for Joker?"

"Yeah, she snuck past some of the guards and opened his cell, that's what triggered the alarms"

"Who'd they break out then?" Batgirl asked

"That's the confusing part. They didn't go for any of the usual's like Bane or Ivy or even Freeze. They ignored them all except for one" he paused as he flicked the page of his notepad "prisoner A15, Slade Joseph Wilson. The assassin you brought in last month."

Nightwing felt his blood run cold, his mind couldn't process what was happening, it was like his entire mind was collapsing in on itself. How did he not see this coming? How was he stupid enough to believe that any prison could keep Slade away? The monster of a man that had tortured him for years was free again. His identity and that of the entire Bat family was at risk, it wouldn't take him long to work out Jason and Babs and it was a guarantee that he knew Batman was Bruce. The thought that he may have revealed this information to Joker already made him feel sick to his stomach.

"They raided the storage bay as well, all of Wilson's gear was stolen back"

"We will recapture them" Starfire said confidently as she stepped forwards and gripped Nightwing's hand

"Make sure the asylum is on complete lockdown until we bring them back. We can't afford any more of them being released" Batman said firmly

The commissioner gave an affirmatory nod, "Good luck to you all" he said before escorting some of his officers into the asylum.

"We need a plan" Nightwing added quickly after he saw Gordon leave.

"The plan is to detain Joker" Batman

"What about Slade?"

A crackled and muffled voice cut him off and they all looked around for the source of the sound. Nightwing reached into his pocket and pulled out the old communicator and the sound resonated clearly. He flipped it open and glared at the face.

"Did someone call" the assassin said with a smirk, "I see you are still using this primitive technology. It makes it so easy to track you down, however coming to you is not my goal"

"Then what is?" Nightwing bit back quickly

"Patience, Richard" the assassin replied with a smirk

"Don't you fucking dare call me that!" Nightwing growled

"Same vicious temper, even after all these years" Slade replied with a mocking smirk

Starfire squeezed his hand and took the communicator from him "You already know that you will be detained so what is this goal you are trying to accomplish?"

He smirked "My dear, I am not trying to accomplish anything. The fool let me out thinking I would help him but his plans are not currently of my interest. Gotham has become a bore to me and since I'm a wanted man I think it's time I made my leave. This little talk we are having is just a farewell, for old time's sake"

"Don't bullshit me, Slade! You're planning something. Why haven't you told Joker who I am?"

"That is because it is our little secret and the fool doesn't need to know. If I had to work it out myself then so should anybody else"

Nightwing was thrown, why was Slade revealing so much? "How long have you known?"

"I've known since the beginning" he chuckled "why do you think I had you steal from the Wayne Enterprise building in the first place?"

Nightwing's heart felt like ice "You got me to steal from there because of the weapon!"

"No. There were many weapons I could have had you steal. But I found that the addition of betrayal made the crime even sweeter" he paused and glared at the Dark Knight over Nightwing's shoulder "I won't be going back to that asylum, Wayne. Do not attempt to follow me" and with that the signal was lost and a heavy silence reigned.

"We have to find out where he's heading" Nightwing spoke quickly

Batman grabbed the communicator and quickly started tampering with the device, within mere moments the device began a slow beep "Way ahead of you. I was tracking the signal he was transferring on and I've transferred it to your communicator. It will beep when you are in range of whatever device he was using"

"You really need to teach me how to do that stuff" Jason said with a smirk

"We need to go now before he gets too far" Nightwing replied quickly

"Agreed, hopefully Alfred might be able to get us a position on where Joker was planning on going" Bruce paused briefly as he handed the group earpieces "Batgirl, Robin you come with me in the Batmobile. Starfire you take the skies and see if you can spot him, and Nightwing you take your cycle. If you find him, do not engage. Report his location and wait for backup"

The group nodded and split in a quick pace. Nightwing hopped onto his cycle and the roar of the engine blocked out all of the sounds of the city as he sped down the roads. He wasn't sure how long he had been circling the area but his desperation was rising.

"Master, Bruce" the earpiece buzzed

"Go ahead, Alfred"

"Some Joker henchmen appear to be rallying in the Westcliffe Warehouse near Burnside. It is reasonable to assume this is where the Joker will be heading to"

"Thanks, Alfred. Report back with any new information. Nightwing, Starfire. Disengage from the search, the Joker is a bigger threat right now. Report to the warehouse"

"Understood" Starfire replied firmly

Nightwing looked up and saw the green trail dart through the sky towards the warehouse, he began to follow her direction when he heard a loud beeping. He looked down to the front of his bike where his communicator was mounted and he noticed the signal beeping as the signal was found.

"Nightwing, report"

"I've got a track on Slade's signal!"

"We haven't got time. This warehouse is full of Joker goons, they're planning something big. We need you here ASAP"

His head felt like it was going into meltdown, how could he make this decision. After a few moments he revved the engine of his motorbike and roared down the street.

 **End of chapter select your ending!**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

The finale is here!

There are 2 endings to this story so read both and pick your favourite. When I write the sequel to this at some point I will pick one as canon but I think it's good to let you guys pick your favourite for the meantime. The 2 choices are " **United We Stand** " and " **Divided We Fall** ". One decision can have drastic consequences!

I'd like to take a minute to apologise for the train-wreck this story has been. I designed it originally to just be random stories of stuff happening in Gotham but then I decided to throw in the Slade story arc and because I didn't originally plan for that it meant I ended up confusing myself more than anything. However it has taught me a few things such as the fact that I work better with shorter stories. Also It taught me to never write a story that I don't already know how I want to end with (Literally has took me up until this point to work out how I want to end).

I haven't forgot about "Firsts" that will be updated soon.

I have a lot of one-shot ideas and I will begin writing them up very soon.

Thank you for being patient with me these last few months and I promise to always try and improve.

I'll be bringing you more fluffy bullshit in the New Year.

Happy New Year!

 **UnknownTitans**


	18. Ending 1: United We Stand

_**Last Chapter**_

 _Nightwing looked up and saw the green trail dart through the sky towards the warehouse, he began to follow her direction when he heard a loud beeping. He looked down to the front of his bike where his communicator was mounted and he noticed the signal beeping as the signal was found._

" _Nightwing, report"_

" _I've got a track on Slade's signal!"_

" _We haven't got time. This warehouse is full of Joker goons, they're planning something big. We need you here ASAP"_

 _His head felt like it was going into meltdown, how could he make this decision. After a few moments he revved the engine of his motorbike and roared down the street._

* * *

 **United We Stand**

As much as he hated letting Slade escape again he couldn't risk putting the others in danger when he could be helping them. He took a deep breath and sped into the Burnside district, he quickly spotted the Batmobile and pulled in alongside it. He stepped off of the bike and took position next to Batman who was currently trying to access camera feeds from inside the warehouse.

Starfire stepped over to him and hugged him tightly "I know how much it must pain you to let Slade escape but I believe Batman is right in this being a more important task"

Nightwing gave a nod and turned to Batman "How many are there?"

"Twenty, approximately. Not many of them have guns but it's enough for it to be a problem"

"Are Joker and Harley here?"

"Cameras showed them heading into the backroom. We need to take out the guards quickly to stop them from escaping again"

"What are they even doing in there?"

"The warehouse is packed with boxes of explosives"

Batgirl paled "There is a hospital a few blocks from here. That must be their target!"

"We need to work fast" Nightwing replied quickly

Bruce closed the laptop "There are a few guards stood around the side entrance so me and Robin will wait there" he turned to the three remaining members of the group "You three head in the front. Starfire, focus any guards that are armed. Nightwing, Batgirl you wait for her to clear the weapons and then take out any other guards. Once all the guards are distracted Robin and I will head to the back room to head off Joker"

They all made their way to their designated points and awaited the signal, "3…2…1!" The silence of the night was shattered as starbolts blasted apart the warehouse doors. It was like time slowed down as starbolt after starbolt soared through the area, colliding with the firearms and sending them hurtling across the room, silencing the gunfire. "Clear", Starfire instructed and Nightwing and Batgirl launched through the doors towards the shell-shocked guards. Loud thuds echoed through the building as face after face collided with baton or bo-staff or even a combination of the two. Within minutes the room had been cleared and they made their way swiftly to the back of the warehouse.

They stepped into the backroom, and the Joker who had been leaning back on a chair as he hummed to himself, quickly toppled over in surprise. The two criminals stared in surprise at the group, Joker pointed his finger accusingly at Robin "You're not the same bird brat! What's going on here?"

"Don't remember me Joker?" Nightwing asked with a smirk as he stepped forwards

"You! The bullseye was supposed to get rid of you! This isn't fair" he yelled in a whiny voice

"Slade, grabbed his stuff and ran, Joker. You should know not to trust an assassin"

"Last time I ever get others to do my dirty work" he mumbled to himself "well it was nice to see you around again Batsy, gotta run!" he yelled emphatically as he jumped through one of the windows and scampered towards the warehouse door. Before anyone even had time to react, Starfire had darted after him and quickly returned with the clown hanging by his jacket, she passed him to Batman who took a hold of the clown by his collar. "I like her" the clown said with a smirk "feisty little fireball you have there"

"What were the explosives for, Joker?"

"Did you really think you'd last long out or Arkham?" Batman said with a growl as he lowered the clown and snapped some handcuffs to his wrists.

The clown smirked and gave a shrug "Nah, but that's all part of the fun isn't it? Me escaping, you chasing me. We're a match made in hell Batsy" he paused for a moment as he looked over the group "So a new boy huh?"

Batman shoved into walking "Get moving, Joker. Nightwing, you cuff Harley. The commissioner is on his way"

"No need to be so rough" he paused as he passed Robin and he grinned maliciously at the boy "I'm sure we will have some fun times together, kiddo. Just. You. Wait"

Nightwing smirked as he heard the auditory gulp from Jason, he walked over to where Harley was being held by Batgirl. He stood behind her as he pulled the cuffs from his belt.

"So, Nightwing is it now? I like the new suit" she said seductively as she stepped back so that she bumped into him "very…sexy" She regretted what she said almost instantly as 6ft of Tamaranean fury charged at her and was now lifting her in the air.

"I would advise that you re-take what you have said" Starfire growled

She snapped her eyes shut to avoid looking at the burning eyes glaring at her, "Sorry!...uhh…I didn't mean nuthin' by it tuts…hehe…can't a girl give a compliment?"

Nightwing snapped the cuffs onto her wrists "You can give a compliment, probably just not a good idea to do so in front of my powerhouse of a girlfriend"

"Point taken…hehe" she chuckled nervously as Batgirl escorted her away

The commissioner stepped into the scene and smiled at Nightwing "Excellent work, you have re-captured the most dangerous criminal we have in less than a few hours. Do you have any leads on Wilson?"

Nightwing sighed deeply "He left the city almost immediately after he was freed. We managed to track him but it was either coming her or going after Slade"

"Well, it was a good choice you all came here. The amount of explosives here…..I dread to think the damage that could have been done" he paused and turned to Starfire, "You look awfully familiar but I don't think we've met before have we?"

Starfire panicked for a moment but composed herself "I am Starfire of the Teen Titans from Jump City, you probably have seen me on the television reports"

The commissioner nodded "Ah of course! Good to meet you Miss" he said shaking her hand

"Don't worry about Wilson. We will alert all neighbouring police forces that he is leaving the city. At least if he is out of Gotham then he isn't a threat here anymore" he gave them one last smile and walked back into the entrance of the warehouse to organise the bomb disposal.

A Raven cry emanated through the warehouse and the sound of heavy footsteps running alerted the pair's attention. They stepped out of the backroom and saw the other three Titans stood staring. "We picked up Slade's signal on our communicators, what happened?" Cyborg asked quickly

"Joker broke him out of Arkham, he left the city straight away" Nightwing replied

Beast Boy stared wide-eyed " _The_ Joker?"

"Yeah, Batman's taking him back to Arkham"

Beast Boy whined sadly "Awwwhhh…we miss all the fun!"

"I wouldn't call dealing with a psychopathic criminal 'fun', Gar"

Nightwing grinned at Starfire "'Gar', Raven?"

"Shouldn't I call my boyfriend by his name?" Raven replied simply, as if trying to brush off the fact quickly

Within seconds Starfire had gripped the two and crushed them into a group hug "Why did you not tell us sooner, friends?"

Beast Boy turned into a mouse and scampered out of the crushing hug before reforming "It took us weeks until we found out about you and Robin…" he paused looking at Nightwing before the lightbulb went on in his head "Dude! Your Nightwing now!"

"Yeah. Like the suit?"

"Yeah it's awesome!"

"Why the change?" Raven asked

"Very nice" Cyborg added with a grin

"My brother Jason, took over as Robin so I figured I should make the change"

There was a long silence as the teens glanced around the warehouse that was currently being cleared out

"So…any good pizza places in Gotham?"

"BB, it's like 7am"

"Any time's pizza time, Cy"

Nightwing chuckled "There's a place called Leonardo's that's just around the corner from here" he tapped his earpiece "Babs, Jason you up for some pizza?"

"Who the fuck says no to pizza?" Jason replied quickly

"What he said" Babs replied

"They really should name a pizza shop after us. The amount we've spent is probably the cost of a shop!" Beast Boy sighed

"Well it wouldn't be that much if BB wouldn't decide that he has to get another pizza entirely to himself because he doesn't want his tofu on the same pizza as there is meat" Cyborg added

"I'm sorry, I didn't realise I had to apologise for not killing animals" Beast Boy bit back

"Here we go" Raven sighed

Nightwing smiled and looped his arm around Starfire's waist as the two continued to bicker, "Just like old times"

 **The End**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

This is ending 1, ending 2 will be uploaded tomorrow due to me being busy with family plans.

Happy New Year!


	19. Ending 2: Divided We Fall

_**Last Chapter**_

 _Nightwing looked up and saw the green trail dart through the sky towards the warehouse, he began to follow her direction when he heard a loud beeping. He looked down to the front of his bike where his communicator was mounted and he noticed the signal beeping as the signal was found._

" _Nightwing, report"_

" _I've got a track on Slade's signal!"_

" _We haven't got time. This warehouse is full of Joker goons, they're planning something big. We need you here ASAP"_

 _His head felt like it was going into meltdown, how could he make this decision. After a few moments he revved the engine of his motorbike and roared down the street._

* * *

 **Divided We Fall**

His eyes transfixed on the flashing dot. He couldn't let him get away. No. Not again. He revved his bike harder and zoomed down the empty street, the dot flashing faster and faster as his speed increased, he was getting close. The dot veered off to the right and he copied its motions, winding down street after street as he closed in on his target. The dot flashed violently and he scanned the area before his eyes landed on the target, Slade was hopping between two rooftops on his right and within moments he was off of his bike and in pursuit.

His lungs burned as he sprinted to keep Slade in his sights and his legs hurt from the impact of jumping between rooftops. He couldn't slow down, if he did he would lose him and he couldn't do that. He heard his communicator vibrating in his pocket but he couldn't lose focus. He watched as Slade slowed down and stopped at the edge of one of the rooftops, he slowed his pace and stopped about 20ft behind his target.

"Foolish choice" Slade said simply as he turned and charged

 _Fuck. Fuck. Fuck._ Slade had planned this. He grabbed his communicator and fumbled to activate the distress beacon before he found his communicator launching out of his hand and careening along the floor. He looked up quickly as the bo-staff came slamming into his side and knocking him back. "I should have known you'd be stupid enough to come after me. I thought you would have got smarter over the years, apparently not. Pathetic really"

"And let you get away?" he paused and smirked at his opponents weapon "Last time we did this you put a gun to my head. Am I not worth the lead anymore, Slade?"

"You were a surprise when we last fought, I'm ready this time. You are going to pay for disobeying my command!" he yelled as he swung his staff again

"I'm not your little apprentice anymore, Slade" he said as he nimbly dodged the strike "I don't follow orders from a criminal. Speaking of which, how was Arkham?" he finished smirking at the man

Slade growled and swept his staff under Nightwing's legs but the acrobat rolled quickly and dodged the downward strike. He reached his foot out quickly and kicked the crouched form's stomach sending him sprawling backwards. "Not interested in telling? You'll be going back there soon"

Nightwing leapt forwards and slammed his staff into Slade's stomach but quickly his opponent retaliated with a stammering head-butt, he took his chance quickly and lifted his rival into the air by the front of his suit "I wonder how the commissioner would feel about having a vigilante for a daughter?" he saw the vein in Nightwing's head pulse and he tossed the boy onto his back

"She isn't a part of this!" he rose to his feet quickly "None of them are, it's me and you. Just like it's always been!" he yelled slamming his hands quickly into the older man's torso.

Slade grabbed hold of the boy's fists "I found your weakness all those years ago, Grayson. It was never pain or even fear" he tightened his squeezing grip and glared into the boy's eyes "It is the people you care about, and that's why destroying you is so easy"

"You're a coward" Nightwing spat "You pretend that you don't have anyone. You have a son, Jericho! Don't you care what happens to him?"

Slade growled viciously and kicked Nightwing in the stomach with enough force to send him stumbling "Don't you dare speak of my family!"

Nightwing chuckled through the pain in his chest "That hit a nerve, hard to believe a monster like you has a heart" he scrambled to his feet quickly and slammed his staff over his head, colliding with the assassin's staff. He pressed down hard and forced the older man to a crouching position. Sounds around them caught Nightwing's attention and his focus was lost momentarily. The assassin took no delay and pushed off from the ground and used his staff to pin the boy by his throat to him.

"It's over Slade!" Batman growled "Surrender!"

Slade glared at each of the Bat-family who were now surrounding the duellers. He felt Nightwing tense beneath him as his cold stare landed on Starfire and he grinned maliciously, he tilted his head down slightly so he could whisper directly into Nightwing's ear "First, I destroy your heart" and within moments of speaking he had tossed the staff to the side and quickly replaced it with a combat knife.

Starfire gasped and charged her starbolts quickly "No!"

Angling his grip he managed to retrieve a small handgun from his belt and he aimed it forwards "Unless you want him dead I suggest you follow my commands!" he paused "The key to destroying the noble Nightwing is not through pain or fear, it is through his heart" he declared loudly "He would give his life for any one of you here, but none more so than her" he said aiming his gun on Starfire "Which is why he will watch you die". He felt Nightwing struggle violently against his grip.

"No! Starfire, run!" Nightwing screamed

"You know her too well to be so naive. The innocent Starfire would never allow anyone to be hurt" he cocked his gun and Nightwing lunged forwards pushing the blade out of his grasp, before grabbing hold of part of the firearm. The group made a dash forwards into the scuffle but shots rang out through the cold winter night and Nightwing slumped to the ground. Slade was slammed to the ground quickly and handcuffed behind his back as he watched the boy hit the floor.

Starfire screamed loudly and rushed to the broken boy's side "Richard?" she asked quietly as tears barrelled down her cheeks. Batgirl and Robin were by his side quickly as they examined Nightwing's injuries. They cut into his shirt gently to peel it back and Starfire's sobs became even more frantic as she saw the 3 bullet wounds in his abdomen.

Batgirl inspected the wounds but slumped back onto her knees as she began to cry. Robin looked curiously at Batgirl, awaiting an answer and she turned to him, tears streaming down her cheeks and shook her head sadly as her answer. He lowered his head sadly and rested his hand comfortingly on his brother's arm.

Nightwing smiled sorrowfully as he looked into the sobbing eyes of his beloved "I'm sorry, Star"

She shook her head vehemently "No. There is nothing to be sorry for!" she peeled off his mask gently and stared into the sapphire pools

"I couldn't let him hurt you"

She nodded her head "You succeeded" she said stroking his cheek and trying to put on her brightest smile for him

Tears leaked onto his cheeks as he smiled up at her "I love you" he said softly

She smiled even brighter through her sobs "And I love you, more than anyone could ever know"

He looked over the others and with a final sad smile he expelled his last breath of air and the world felt like it went silent in his vacancy. There was a loud Raven cry and the 3 other Titans stepped quickly forwards.

"Oh god….Dick!" Raven cried with a sob as she rushed over next to Starfire, Beast Boy and Cyborg stood in complete shock next to their fallen friend. Neither knowing anything to say. Raven looked at Starfire's blank and desolate face as her eyes never left her beloved. She wrapped her arms tightly around her alien friend. "I felt him…go. We were on our way after we got Slade's signal, and then…..then I just felt empty" more tears escaped her eyes "I'm so sorry, Starfire"

"Heal him" Starfire said monotone

Raven sighed "I can't, I can't heal the dead"

Raven could see the utter despair and heartbreak in the girl's eyes as she stared at her.

"There must be a way" She replied again in the same broken monotone

"There isn't, Starfire"

Starfire turned her head back to face Nightwing, she leaned down and pressed her lips to his forehead. Then she rose and walked around the body, the others stared in worry as she marched forwards. Batman noticed her target straight away and stood in front of Slade. "This isn't what Dick would have wanted Starfire!"

"That is not your authority to make!" She replied bitterly pushing Batman aside. She bent down quickly and lifted the assassin into the air by his throat, her eyes glowed fiercely as she glared at him. "You have took what is most precious from me" her fist glowed with a bright starbolt, "Membakar in die ugnis ning Xhal!" she growled. Her hand glowed vividly and after a few seconds she dropped his limp body to the ground.

Batman charged her quickly in an attempt to restrain her but she caught him and glared menacingly at him "You wish to punish me for dealing justice?"

"That wasn't justice! That was an execution!" Batman bit back

She glared at him "I have stopped the madman that has killed many, but most of all he has killed my beloved…your son! Do you expect me to allow him life when he doesn't deserve it?"

"That isn't your decision to make! He didn't need to die"

Starfire's face twisted in disgust "Why do you defend the monster that has murdered your son? Your 'Justice system' would have only sent him back to the asylum where he would have broken out again"

Cyborg and Beast Boy stepped forwards and put their hands on Starfire's shoulders "Monsters like him don't deserve life" Beast Boy said as he glared at the body.

"They're right, Bruce" Batgirl said rising to her feet and wiping her eyes "Dick….he was like a brother to me. I'm sure if it wasn't Starfire…it would have been one of us that would have killed him instead"

"Dick?" the commissioner asked quietly as he stepped through the doorway of the rooftop stairwell. The others all turned swiftly and looked in shock at the police commissioner. He stepped closer to the body and dropped his head sadly as he saw the Nightwing costume "Oh Christ, Dick…" he turned his head and glared at Batman accusingly "Bruce…"

"Gordon..."

He looked over at the boy's body "You took an orphan and turned him into a vigilante! How could you let this happen?"

"I'm not having this argument with you Jim! Not here!" he paused and turned to Raven "Take everyone back to the manor"

She nodded solemnly and chanted her mantra before everyone was enveloped in the large Raven form.

The commissioner calmed himself "I'm sorry, Bruce"

"I can't do this Jim" he said quickly and marched away into the darkness

The commissioner stared after him with a mixture of sympathy and anger. He looked down at the body of Slade and pulled out his phone.

"Need a despatch team to recover the body of Slade Wilson. How many officers did we lose in the Joker raid?" he heard the voice on the end of the phone say 13 and he sighed deeply rubbing his forehead "Understood"

* * *

The raven screech echoed through the manor and the group stepped away sombrely. Starfire cradled Nightwing's body in her arms. Her face still showing only numbness, as if the trauma had crippled all of her emotions. Cyborg had tried to offer to carry him instead but Starfire's grip only grew tighter. As they walked down the hallway, rapid footsteps approached from in front of them. Alfred appeared from around the corner and his smile turned quickly into a look of horror. "Master Dick?"

Cyborg shook his head slowly "He's gone" he said with a sad sigh

"How did he…?"

"Slade was going to shoot Starfire but Dick….he took the shots" Babs elaborated

Alfred turned and looked at the heartbroken girl carrying the body in her arms and he felt nothing but pain and sorrow in his chest. "I am deeply sorry for your loss, Miss. Where is Master Bruce?"

"He told us to just come back here…" Beast Boy said quietly

Alfred nodded "He will blame himself"

"It was not his fault. It was mine….I promised to protect him…. and I…I failed him" Starfire said

Alfred stepped forwards quickly "No Miss. Master Dick" he paused and smiled "he was always stubborn. His action was a choice made by him and himself alone, it is not through any fault of yours"

She nodded "I believe that it would be best for me to be alone now, friends. Cyborg would you mind accompanying me?"

Cyborg nodded "Of course, Star"

She lowered Richard's body, giving his forehead a final kiss before Alfred lifted up the boy and laying him gently in one of the empty bedrooms.

The others dispersed into different parts of the manor and Starfire led Cyborg into one of the empty bedrooms "I require something of you, Cyborg…..something that you may not agree with but it is necessary that you do it"

"Just name it"

"I need you to hack into the bat-computer"

"What? Why?" he asked quickly

"I remember Richard telling me of a fluid named 'Lazarus' that is rumoured to have regenerative properties. He said that he found information on it in some of the files on the computer. I need you to access these files for me"

He sighed and put his arms around the girl "Star, I miss Dick more than anything right now but fairy tales won't bring him back"

She looked up at him with desperation burning in her eyes and tears spilling down her cheeks "I beg of you" she choked on a sob "he is all that I have…I do not believe I will cope without him"

Cyborg nodded and squeezed the girl tightly "Then nothing will stop me finding those files", he tapped the console of his arm "Due to how Batman has this stuff setup I won't be able to hack into the computer from here. We will have to be at the terminal itself, know a way to it"

Starfire quickly guided him down the hallway and rushed quickly to elevator shaft that led to the cave, she scanned the room quickly to make sure no one was around before guiding Cyborg to the computer.

He sat down quickly and connected his arm into the terminal "Will take a few minutes to decrypt"

Those few minutes felt like agony to Starfire as she desperately awaited a result.

"Find documents with key word 'Lazarus'" he paused as he awaited the search to complete. Instantly documents started to appear on the main screen and he selected a specific document that was marked as 'high interest'. His eyes flicked over the page and his face lit up "Oh my god. You we're right, Star. There are pools of this liquid scattered around the globe. Batman has recorded one being found under Blüdhaven cathedral. Get Raven quickly, she will be able to get you both into where the pit is"

Starfire bolted out of the door and into the library where Raven was sat solemnly "Raven I need your assistance! We have found a way to bring back him back"

Raven stared in confusion at the girl

"There is a Lazarus pit underneath the cathedral in Blüdhaven! We must take Richard's body to it immediately!"

Raven sighed deeply "Dick's gone Starfire, there isn't any proof of any healing water"

"We found the location and information in Batman's files. I beg of you that you trust me Raven"

* * *

It took many attempts at warping throughout the underground catacombs of the cathedral but eventually they found their way to where the pit resided, miles underneath the cathedral itself. The pit radiated an eerie green glow and the entire room was bathed in its light. Starfire hovered gently over the pool as she lowered the body in, she floated above the water as he was bathed in the glow of the water as it bubbled around him. She stared anxiously as the wounds began to heal, soon he gasped loudly for air and she quickly took hold of his arms and lifted him out of the pool. She carried him gently and rested him on the floor as he filled his lungs.

"Star?" he asked nervously

She threw her arms around him and buried her head in the crook of his neck "You are alive"

He pulled her head back gently and kissed her fiercely. "It was so dark and lonely…how am I here?"

"The waters of the Lazarus pit regenerated you… I could not cope without you"

"I'm so sorry for leaving you alone, Star" he said as tears slid down his cheeks. "I will never leave you again, I promise you"

Raven stared in shock at the scene in front of her, after a few moments the shock passed and she ran over to the pair throwing them. "I can't believe we brought you back!"

Thoughts and memories spun wildly in Richard's head as he held dearly onto his beloved. He couldn't believe that he was back himself but it didn't matter that he died in the first place. The only thing that would ever matter would be for him to be right here with her.

 **The End**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

Here is the 2nd ending. A much darker, but more interesting, course of events. Sorry it's took so long! It's a much longer ending than the others and I've had to spend a lot more time planning it out before-hand.

Bonus points for anyone who can take a guess at what "Membakar in die ugnis ning Xhal!" means. A clue is that the words are all from different languages. Since there is no official Tamaranean language out there I just mixed loads of others together.

Well this is it for "Moving Forward" it's taught me a lot of things and I know how to improve more, I really hope you've enjoyed the story.

It's been amazing and motivational to see you guys leave reviews and favourite my stories. Makes my day when I check my email and see that someone has favorited one of my stories or has left a review.

I have a pretty solid idea for a sequel to this story but it wouldn't be anywhere near the length of this story. I'll start working on that story later in the year but I am going to be focusing on writing one-shots and the occasional short story as they are the things I most enjoy writing.


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